The following statement was released
by the U.S. Mission to the UN in New York
November 10, 2006

Statement by Miriam K. Hughes,
Deputy U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council,
on the Report of the Human Rights Council, in the General Assembly

Thank you, Madam President:

Since the founding of the United Nations and then the establishment of the Commission on Human Rights in 1946, the United States has led efforts to promote and protect human rights. We remain true to our fundamental belief in and pursuit of human rights both at home and around the globe.

It was in this spirit that the United States engaged in the negotiations to create a new, stronger successor body to the Commission on Human Rights. We sought to set the highest standards for membership in the new body and to provide it with the tools it would need to make a real and significant difference in the promotion and protection of human rights. While the results of the negotiations fell short of our hopes, the United States nevertheless committed itself to work cooperatively with members of the Human Rights Council and with other partners to help shape the Council into the mechanism that could meet the high expectations of countries and most especially those of victims of abuse.

The Council has gotten off to a slow and discouraging start. Some say it is in part due to the growing pains of a new institution. That is not an excuse, not reason enough, to allow the Council to become sidetracked from its reason for being. It is up to the members of the Human Rights Council, to exercise the political will and determination, and to have the intellectual honesty, to make the Council into the body that it is supposed to be.

The first two regular sessions of the Council haltingly began the work of laying the foundations for the Council's work, but much remains to be done. Our greatest disappointment lies, however, with its failure to pronounce itself equitably and forcefully on serious human rights situations that endanger persons in various regions of the world.

To date, the Council has accomplished little that will make a concrete and significant difference in the lives of millions around the world who are prevented from enjoying and exercising their rights. It has failed to reach agreement to address egregious violations of human rights in places such as Sudan. In this time of tension among peoples of different faiths and cultures, the Council also has missed the opportunity to promote a dialogue to increase understanding and tolerance among religions and cultures. The Council could and should have reaffirmed fundamental rights, such as freedom of thought, conscience and religion and freedom of association.

As the Council approaches its third regular session, we are faced with yet another call for a special session on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This will be the third such session in less than a year of the Council’s operation. Some states seem to view the Council as just another arena in which to play political games – and not as a vehicle for advancing the cause of human rights or for giving redress to the victims of abuse.

The Council has two sessions remaining in this first transitional and critical year. If it is to meet the expectations and hopes of people all over the world, its members must seize the opportunity presented to them to shape it and set it on the right path. They have a responsibility to build a Council that can truly protect and promote human rights around the world. Sadly, so far, the Human Rights Council, into which was put so much hope and work, has been a disappointment. We can only hope and work to help ensure that it reverses course and fulfills the purpose for which it was created.

Thank you, Madam President.