UNHRC
HUMAN RIGHT PROTECTORS AND CONFLICT MEDIATORS
-By HRISHITA KISHORE
World war II, Showed the horrific impact a war can have on the human civilization and should never be allowed to occur again. There was an endless feeling of fear, instability and grief in the world especially among the citizen of Europe and the east Asia. To save the succeeding generation from such scourge of war, the United Nation had introduced a charter ,defining the worth of human life, their fundamental rights ,equal rights for men and Woman on the larger extent. Although, it was need of the hour, still took three years for proper documentation and approval on the common grounds. In 1948, UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of human rights for all the people And nations around the globe.
The Idea of human rights, that every human on this planet is entitled to some basic rights and freedoms which can’t be granted or revoked, sounds very appealing and straightforward. But its implementation is no less complicated than rocket science. To safeguard the enforcement of basic right laws and for its proper monitoring, United Nations Human Rights Council came into the existence in 2006. Human Rights Council is intergovernmental body which governs the promotion and protection of human rights and also recommend the possible ways to sustain peace. It investigates the allegations raised by the different countries or the organizations related to the violation of the human rights laws led by the United nation. Such as freedom of expression, freedom of beliefs and religion, right to equality for all and many more. UN human right council’s headquarter is situated in Geneva, Switzerland. This was not the first time, any such committee was formed.Earlier also UN Commission on human right was there as a subsidiary body from 1946 to 2006. According to an article published on the site of britannica.com, UN Commission was ‘ineffective’ as several of its members countries had dubious human rights records and was continuously criticized for the same.
The council consists of 47 seats of elected members from different continents. 13 seats for African and Asian Pacific group each, 6 for Eastern Europe group, 8 for Latin America and Caribbean group and seven seats for Western Europe and other groups. They are elected for three years of term. To be elected as a member of this council, a country must secure at least 96 votes that is considered as an absolute majority. As mentioned in the UNHRC Wikipedia, the council has certain subordinate bodies whose working enhance the efficiency and precision of the council. ‘’Universal periodic review working group” reviews the UN member states position on the human rights commitments and their positive developments, “advisory committee” serve as the councils “think tank” making recommendations based on their studies,” complaint procedure” for reporting the violation of human rights in any part of the world.
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UNHRC Is a very reputed organisation and holds accountability for almost every conflicts happening in the world. In this process, they face many challenges and criticism. First of all, if the recommendations made by the council is not in the favour of certain states, they condemn UNHRC for interfering with the sovereignity of the state and accused them as a human rights violator itself. Secondly, the council is not very vocal on the issues related to elderly, children and disabled rights violation. Also, united nation is facing worldwide criticism as many members of UN, themselves are the major human rights offenders like China’s policies for Uyghur muslims.
Similarly, Pakistan and Russia are also the mainstream human rights offenders. The crucial challenge had arose for UNHRC When United States, one of 's important members, openly criticised the council for their partial behavior against Israel. United States accused them for being biased and left under the presidency of Donald Trump(2018 – 2019).
India, as a member of UNHRC, has not been left unaffected of the council's allegations. A report of UN HRC in 2016 on Kashmir emphasised on the violation of human rights on the both side of LOC and
accused both India and Pakistan on this matter. Although, India has rejected this report calling it “fallacious ,tendentious ,motivated and unverified” but still subject of kashmir and LOC Violence is raised very frequently in UNHRC Meetings and discussions. The council also urged India to restore basic communication services in Kashmir. India was also criticised on the issue of exclusion of approx. 1.9 million people of Assam from NRC, recently called for ‘restraint’ during the farmer's protest, also questioned For the action taken against journalists and activists.
After all these challenges and accusations faced by UNHRC Off being biased or inefficient in certain situations ,we cannot deny the fact that it is an body that ensures the protection of human rights and always come up with new measures for the enforcement of peace globally. And currently we are in need of such ‘conflict mediators’.