Minority rights focus in the United Nations 21
CHAPTER III
THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL AND ITS SUBSIDIARY BODIES
Summary: The Human Rights Council is the most important intergovernmental human rights body
in the United Nations. It provides a number of avenues through which various concerns, including
minority rights, may be made known to United Nations experts and Government representatives.
Among the relevant human rights mechanisms established by the Council is the Forum on Minority
Issues, which meets annually to discuss particular thematic issues relevant to minorities; the universal
periodic review, which considers the human rights situation in every State Member of the United
Nations every four and a half years; and the complaint procedure, under which communications
alleging a consistent pattern of gross violations of the human rights of minorities may be submitted
to the Council for consideration.
This chapter provides information about the work of the Human Rights Council and its subsidiary
organs (see fig. III), and offers advice on how minorities can participate in their meetings or
otherwise raise awareness of issues of particular concern to minorities. The special procedures
system of independent experts and other mechanisms created and/or assumed by the Council is
described separately in chapter IV.
Figure III. Human Rights Council organizational chart
Human Rights Council
Universal
periodic
review
Special
procedures
(independent
experts,
special
rapporteurs,
working
groups)
Forum on
Minority
Issues
Expert
Mechanism
on the
Rights of
Indigenous
Peoples
Social
Forum
Working
groups
Complaint
procedure
Advisory
Committee
The Human Rights Council
The Council is the successor to the Commission on Human Rights, which it replaced in 2006.25
The Council is composed of 47 Member States, each represented by a Government delegation.
Members of the Council are elected by majority vote through a secret ballot in the General
Assembly. A candidate’s human rights record is taken into account: “members elected to the
Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights”.
The term of service is three years and members are not eligible for immediate re-election after
two consecutive terms. Membership is distributed among the regional groups; Africa has
13 members; Asia, 13; Latin America and the Caribbean, 8; Western Europe and other States,
7; and Eastern Europe, 6.
General Assembly resolution 60/251.
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