Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Uppsala University
Commission on Human Rights
- © United Nations
The Commission on Human Rights was set up by the Charter as the main UN organ for the political surveillance of the human rights situation in the world.
The 53 members of the Commission were elected by the Economic and Social Council for a period of three years.
A regular session for six weeks was held each year in Geneva. For urgent and acute human rights situations the Commission may meet for special sessions between the regular sessions. The Commission held its final meeting on March 27, 2006.
The Commission was mandated to examine, monitor and publicly report on human rights situations in specific countries or territories. These investigations were referred to as country mandates and thematic mandates and they were performed by special rapporteurs who served in their personal capacity and held an independent position crucial to their impartiality. The country reports and thematic reports were presented to the Commission and discussed during sessions.
Although these reports were considered to be an instrument for serious criticism from a global human rights forum, the Commission had no authority to force a government to change or improve the situation. However, the standpoint of the Commission often served as important background information for further resolutions by the ECOSOC and the General Assembly.
Through the so called 1503 Procedure - named for ECOSOC Resolution 1503 (1978) - individuals could submit their complaints to the Commission concerning "a consistent pattern" of gross human rights violations. This procedure was confidential, but the Commission publicly announced the countries considered.
N.B.!
On 15 March 2006, the General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/60/251 establishing the Human Rights Council to replace the Commission on Human Rights. The Human Rights Council has retained the special procedures and will carry over all the Commission's mandates and responsibilities.
Documentation
The individual documents of the Commission on Human Rights carry the following symbols:
E/ Economic and Social Council |
-/CN.4 Commission number 4 = Commission on Human Rights |
-/year |
-/current number |
Ex. E/CN.4/2004/103 Economic and social Council, Commission on Human Rights, year 2003, document 103 |
Information about the structure and work of the Commission and full text documents and reports can be accessed from the official web page of the Commission on Human Rights.
Documents in print for the period 1946-1992 can be accessed from the UN archives of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and from the libraries at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva. From 1993 onwards they can be retrieved electronically through the United Nations Documents System - ODS.
The Commission on Human Rights submitted an annual report to the ECOSOC in the documentary series Supplements to the Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, no 23l. A complete collection of these supplements in print will be found in the UN Collection of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala, and in the libraries at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva. Supplements for the last years of the Commission are posted as Reports at the ECOSOC official Web page.
A list of country and thematic mandates and documents is posted on the web site of the Commission on Human Rights under Special Procedures.
Databases and Indexes
Full text documents from 1993 onwards can be retrieved through the United Nations Documents System - ODS.
Recent session documents, annual reports, country and thematic reports and comments from the Commission on Human Rights can be accessed through the Charter-based bodies database from 1992 onwards.
References to documents with links to full texts for recent years can be retrieved through the UNBISnet - the online catalogue of the UN Libraries in New York and Geneva.