UNITED NATIONS, March 28 (UPI) -- The U.N. Human Rights Commission is no more, the disgraced body has held its 62nd annual and last session with a resolution transferring its work to brand-new Human Rights Council, scheduled to begin operations in June.
The commission took the action Monday. It was part of the U.N. Economic and Social Council and based in Geneva as will be the council, but the new panel already has a hire ranking because it was created by and reports to the 191-member U.N. General Assembly.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said the overwhelming vote March 15 at U.N. World Headquarters in New York by the assembly setting up the 47-member council marked "a major stride forward" for the U.N.'s human rights system, although she said there was still much to do.
"While we can say for sure that the decision taken in New York was one of historical significance, its actual impact on people's lives is still to be determined. Much will rest on the profound culture shift that must accompany this institutional reform," Arbour said.
"The protection of human rights will thrive in a rigorous, frank and cooperative environment. Progress cannot be made in an atmosphere of distrust and disrespect and through the pursuit of narrow self-interest," she said.
Arbour said it was important for the new council to "quickly find a way to deal with its substantive mandate," adding its credibility "requires quick action on matters of substance."
She added people should not forget some of the achievements of the 60 years of human rights work performed by the 53-member commission, even though it met only once a year for six weeks.
In the immediate aftermath of the World War II, the commission drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1948.
However despite these successes, the commission came in for increasing criticism over the years as being ineffective and not accountable, and so the idea of the council was put forward by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan a year ago.
The council has several elements making it a stronger body than the commission, in addition to being a subsidiary of a higher body, the General Assembly. One is the council is mandated to meet at least for 10 weeks a year in three sessions another is members must have equitable geographical representation.
Despite these improvements, the United States said the council did not go far enough and Washington was among the four voting against setting up the body earlier this month, although the resolution was adopted by a vote of 170 in favor, with only 4 against and 3 abstentions.
However, despite its "no" vote Annan has said U.S. Ambassador John Bolton pledged Washington will work cooperatively with other U.N. member states to make the council as effective as possible. Bolton would not say whether the United States would seek a seat on the panel.
Monday, Chairman Henry Hyde of the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee told reporters, while visiting U.N. headquarters, "I think we should engage in the process. I think it's important that the council go forward. It certainly is not what we wanted. It's far short of an ideal document, but it is the best available."
Said Hyde: "You do what you do with what you have at hand. So I am supportive of an effort to participate. If we don't get in, it is a definition of the body's fairness. So I think it is important to get in."
The next priorities for the 60th Session of the reform-minded U.N. General Assembly include changing how the world organization is managed, streamlining the Secretariat, and ECOSOC.
Before leaving for Sweden Friday night General Assembly President Jan Eliasson sent a letter to all 191 members of the world organization that make up the membership of the assembly outlining the reform work that has yet to be done and as mandated by the 2005 September World Summit.
One of his first concerns is the May 9 rights council election.
Still, the assembly created in December a Peace building Commission, for which an organizational committee has yet to be formed, Eliasson reminded member states in his letter.
In regard to Secretariat and management reform, Eliasson urged member states to examine Annan's proposals in his report "Investing in the United Nations," calling it "an important report for an important time" and encouraged more discussion on Security Council reform.
When Eliasson returned to headquarters Tuesday, he brought a second hat as Stockholm's new foreign minister, expecting to take office April 24. He completes his tenure as president in September. Several past assembly presidents also served as their nations' foreign minister.
