Human Rights Reform in the United Nations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Abstract

Recently there has been extensive criticism of the effectiveness of United Nations (UN) human rights bodies. In particular the Commission on Human Rights has been described as 'irrelevant' and 'positively destructive' because it has failed to act decisively when governments suppress human rights which they are legally bound to uphold. These kinds of accusations prompted Secretary General Kofi Annan to initiate a program of reform, a flagship of which, was to abolish the Commission and replace it with a new body to be known as the Human Rights Council. The author reviews the work of the old Commission on Human Rights and looks at the newly established Human Rights Council.

Keywords: Human Rights reform, United Nations, Human Rights Council, Commission on Human Rights

JEL Classification: K30, K33, K40