Finland named member of new United Nations Human Rights Council
Several countries with questionable record also admitted to body
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A lengthy lobbying effort by the Finnish mission at the United Nations, along with help from Helsinki paid off on Tuesday when the UN General Assembly agreed on the composition of the UN’s new Human Rights Council. Finland was taken into the body already in the first round of voting.
In the vote, Finland got the support of 133 countries - well above the 96 votes necessary.
There were a total of 63 countries vying for membership. Seats on the council are allocated on the basis of regional quotas. Of the five regions, only Africa had exactly the same number of applicants as there were seats available - 13.
Asia’s 13 seats were sought by 18 countries, Eastern Europe had 13 countries vying for one of the six seats, and eight seats allocated for Latin America and the Caribbean were sought by 10 candidates. Finland was in the group of Western Europe and other countries, with nine candidates seeking the seven seats.
Finland was the only country in the Nordic region to seek a post on the council, and Finnish UN Ambassador Kirsti Lintonen says that major efforts were made to secure the spot.
"If all of the promises that were made to us hold, we should get in on the first ballot", Lintonen said as the votes were being counted. "What a relief", she said when the result was announced.
Finland was possibly helped by its status as the upcoming holder of the European Union Presidency. There had been agreement within the EU that the holder of the Presidency should be brought in. However, six other EU member states were vying for the seven seats allocated for the group of "Western Europe and other countries".
Reform of human rights work has been one of the main goals of UN reform. The predecessor of the UN Human Rights Council, the Human Rights Comission, had previously been seen as a disgrace to the world body, because many of the countries that were supposed to be monitoring compliance with human rights were among the worst violators of those rights.
The new council was to have been set up already at the big UN summit last September. However, like so many others goals set for the summit, this one failed to materialise; the matter was shifted to the General Assembly, which surprised many by successfully squeezing out a unanimous resolution on the formation of a new Human Rights Council.
The work was not easy. The United States was suspicious to the very end, fearing that the new council would have the same problems as its predecessor. When the US only managed to get Israel to support its opposition to the new council, it decided to stay out of the body at least in the initial stage.
The list of candidates for the new council included many countries, whose presence tarnished the reputation of the UN Human Rights Commission. Many of them, including Cuba, got onto the new council, after submitting the same kinds of assurances to the General Assembly about observing human rights, as all other candidate countries.
Other council members with questionable human rights situations include Nigeria, China, Saudi-Arabia, and Russia.
However, a council member that is found to violate human rights can be expelled from the council. Such a move requires a two thirds majority in the Security Council.
Members of the Human Rights Council are chosen for terms of three years. However, some of the members in the first council are to hold their posts for just one or two years, to establish annual rotation.
Like its predecessor, the new body will meet in Geneva for at least three sessions each year, all of which last for at least ten weeks. The Human Rights Commission met only once a year for a session of at least six weeks.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 10.5.2006 - TODAY |
 Finland named member of new United Nations Human Rights Council
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