Human Rights Council agrees on procedural rules and mechanisms

Press release 128/2007
20 June, 2007

After negotiations that continued late into the evening, the UN Human Rights Council reached agreement on its new procedural rules and mechanisms on 19 June. Last-minute consensus was reached on rapporteurs, a new system for evaluating human rights in different countries, and on the agenda and other details for the Council, which began its work a year ago in Geneva. “The result is a compromise; however, it gives a good base for the Council to fulfil its mission in global promotion of human rights,” states Ambassador Vesa Himanen of the Finnish Permanent Mission to Geneva.

At the same time, Finland’s year-long term on the Human Rights Council ended. Finland’s term occurred when the new Human Rights Council was being launched, which made it possible to influence the formation of the new organ’s operations. Finland’s goal has been a Council able to intervene in situations of human rights violations more effectively than its predecessor. During Finland’s Presidency of the European Union, for instance, a special session of the Human Rights Council was held on the human rights situation in Darfur.

Additional information: Johanna Suurpää, Head of Unit, Unit for Human Rights Policy, tel. +358 9 1605 6551