SHARE hosted a panel discussion on the new UN Human Rights Council at a very interesting moment: The new Human Rights Council was created by a resolution of the UN General Assembly on March 15 2006, the new members were elected on May 9 during the 60th session of the General Assembly, and the inaugural meeting will be held on June 19. An audience of about 80 people took advantage of this opportunity.

 
After a short welcoming by Deputy Consul, Emil Wyss, the word was given to the moderator. Pierre Hazan, UN Correspondent in Geneva for the French newspaper „Libération“ and the Swiss daily „Le Temps,“ and currently Senior Fellow at United States Institute of Peace in Washington, introduced the three panelists and the topics of the evening.

Professor Walter Kälin, known as the “architect” of the Human Rights Council, teaches constitutional and international public law at the University of Bern, and is Special Representative of the UN secretary general on the Human Rights of internally displaced persons, and member of the UN Committee for Human Rights. In his introductory talk, he analyzed the “discredited” UN Human Rights Commission that had been replaced by the Council. He compared these two bodies and highlighted the advantages of the Council over the Commission, especially regarding periodicity of meetings, selection procedures for members, and the periodic review of all states.  
Ambassador Peter Maurer, Head of the Swiss Mission to the UN, who was a leading force in the establishment of the Council at the UN, explained the procedures, difficulties and challenges of the negotiation process. He explained that “you never negotiate with 191 UN member states,” but rather with subdivisions, such as regional groups.  

Professor Jacqueline Bhabha, Executive Director of the Human Rights Committee at the Carr Center of Harvard University, was dealing with the expectations, hopes and limitations of this newly created body.
 

The following day, Professor Walter Kälin made himself available for a workshop with experts on human rights. Natalie Kohli, Second Secretary at the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York, responsible for Human Rights, Financial and Legal Affairs also took part.

The 16 experts from Boston University, Harvard University, MIT, and Tufts University (Fletcher School), engaged in a lively 2 hours discussion on the Council, as well as more general issues regarding human rights and the UN. The discussion focused on the role of implementation mechanisms vs. normative work in future development of human rights instruments.

The last event of this Human Rights series was a videoconference between Professor Walter Kälin at SHARE and the following two main speakers at the Swiss Consulate General/Swissnex in San Francisco: Mrs. Julianne Cartwright Traylor, Associate Director of the International Program at the University of San Francisco and President of the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Advocates, and Mrs. Rita Maran, Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies at UC Berkeley, Human Rights consultant and member of the National Advisory Board of Human Rights Advocates.