For every Council delegate there is one resolution, above all others, whose success or failure takes over their life. It dominates their working hours and prays on their subconscious mind even during the little sleep it’s possible to squeeze in. For me, it was Sri Lanka. There was a huge amount riding on the United States’ resolution. The 2009 Special Session on Sri Lanka was the Council’s darkest hour and … Read more »Council Catharsis
Good Manners and Bad Behaviour
It’s been a strange week. Even during the frenzied latter stages of a Human Rights Council session you expect the UN to be a courteous place. Anything less than model behaviour would feel out of place in an organisation devoted to peace and harmony and based in a country whose last outbreak of anything resembling war was in 1847, and even then the fighting was on such a small scale … Read more »Good Manners and Bad Behaviour
Sleep-walking and breaking taboos
Maybe it’s just that I’m getting older but this feels like a particularly tiring Council session. And judging by the number of weary diplomatic faces around this week, I’m not the only one whose been feeling the strain. The Council is set to adopt more resolutions than at any other previous session, and with a record number of early morning starts, full-day sessions and panel discussions, the Council is becoming … Read more »Sleep-walking and breaking taboos
Panels, Protocols and Ponchos
It’s been a busy week. With our Ministers in town for the Council’s High level Segment, we’ve all been suffering from higher than average stress levels. Many Ministers chose to use their statements to focus on the appalling violations in Syria, which the Council addressed in an urgent debate on Tuesday. Council members spoke out forcefully and passedanother strong resolution calling on the Assad regime to stop deliberately killing Syrian … Read more »Panels, Protocols and Ponchos
From limping to sprinting
What a difference a year makes. 12 months ago the Human Rights Council had just limped to the anaemic conclusion of a year-long review process, with many countries and human rights organisations wondering how much longer they could justify spending time and energy on the Council with little to show for it. During its first 5 years the Council had seen some successes but these were few and far between. … Read more »From limping to sprinting
Syria in the spotlight
The Human Rights Council turned its attention to Syria again on Friday last week with another Special Session called by the EU- the 3rd consecutive time in 7 months it had met in response to the Assad regime’s ongoing brutality. This level of attention is a clear indication of the international outrage at what is going on in Syria. It is also a sign of the Council’s increasing ability to respond … Read more »Syria in the spotlight
Celebrating Torture Prevention
You wouldn’t expect an international meeting on torture prevention to be a happy occasion but November’s global forum on the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture had the feel of a large and joyous family gathering. Given that the Optional Protocol is still in its youth, the atmosphere was more one of Barmitzvah than wedding, but a happy occasion nevertheless. I’ve been fortunate to be involved with the Optional … Read more »Celebrating Torture Prevention
Cheap Seats, Backsliding and Cuban Democracy
As the September session of the Human Rights Council drew to a close on Friday, there were some glum faces around, especially amongst the NGOs. The NGOs provide a much needed reality check to the rest of us and I think it’s a fair criticism that civil servants are often all too ready to point to a lack of failure and call it a success. In truth the achievements from … Read more »Cheap Seats, Backsliding and Cuban Democracy
False starts, prizes and little bits of history
The second week of the September Human Rights Council session was a typically frantic affair, as delegations scrambled to finalise the resolutions that they would present before Thursday’s deadline. Getting resolutions in tends to be a quite scrappy business, more like a school sports day three-legged race than a gracious Olympic sprint. Countries have quite different negotiating styles at the UN. At one extreme are Switzerland and Argentina who have … Read more »False starts, prizes and little bits of history
Protesting: Peacefully, noisily and a little too much
It’s been a tiring week. The Council has been busy enough but it hasn’t helped that our 6-month old seems to have lost the knack of sleeping at night for more than about 30 minutes at a time. My own dad, over from the UK, sees this as his own private revenge for the years of sleep deprivation I caused him. Though he never had tricky Council sessions to contend … Read more »Protesting: Peacefully, noisily and a little too much