Inaugural Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council Geneva 19 to 30 June 2006 July 2006 The Opening Ceremony On June 19 th 2006 the first session of a new body of the United Nations(UN) was held. In the presence of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Jan Eliasson, President of the 60 th session of the General Assembly and Louise Arbour, High Commissioner for Human Rights, the inaugural session of the United Nations Human Rights Council(HRC) was ceremonially opened. Over 100 Heads of State and Ministers were speaking at the High Level Segment at the beginning of the session, conveying their best wishes and expressing their vision for the future work of the Council. As its President the HRC elected H.E. Luis Alfonso de Alba, Ambassador of Mexico. He is assisted by four Vice-Presidents representing the other regions. Currently those are: Czech Republic (Eastern Europe); Morocco(Africa); Switzerland (Western and Others); Jordan(Asia). The Human Rights Council replaces the Commission on Human Rights which had come under criticism for its excessive politicization, double standards and ineffectiveness in addressing human rights violations. Shortcomings of the Commission In recent years the situation within the Commission had continually deteriorated. The work on pressing human rights issues had factually stalled and political consensus could not be found anymore. Countries were using the membership in the Commission to avoid criticism on their own human rights violations, and on the other hand engaged in defamation of political opponents – the so-called naming and shaming. The regional groups formed consolidated voting blocks on most resolutions, protecting their members from criticism. The development came to a point where the Secretary-General saw the integrity of the UN threatened as the“credibility deficit” of the Commission would cast“a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole.” 1 A process of change was initiated, led by Jan Eliasson, President of the General Assembly (GA), whose aim was to overhaul the UN’s Human Rights system. After lengthy debates and many changes on Eliasson’s original draft, on 15 March 2006 the GA adopted a resolution by a great majority, creating the Human Rights Council. 2 What is new about the Human Rights Council? When establishing the new Council, many countries called for a more effective and credible body. While some used the transition phase to table proposals that would have weakened the Council even in relation to the Commission, most countries engaged in a constructive dialogue. The two main positions were a) to have a very inclusive HRC with large membership and b) to have a small HRC with members who were outstanding in their performance on human rights. While transparency and democratic legitimation called for the first option, the advantage of the second option was its theoretical ability to react quickly to occurring human rights violations and 1 Secretary-General’s 2005 Report“In larger Freedom”, A/59/2005, para. 182. 2 Resolution A/Res60/251 was adopted with 170 countries in favour, 4 against(Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States), 3 abstentions(Belarus, Iran, Venezuela).