yourHRC.org, developed by Norway and the Universal Rights Group, is an ongoing project intended to be a window onto cooperation, leadership and policymaking at the UN Human Rights Council. The aim is to provide a base for more discussion on how to sharpen the human rights tools at our disposal, to make them strong and relevant and to ensure better implementation on the ground.
While the first yourHRC-report, launched in October this year, focused on States that were candidates to the Human Rights Council, the new report provides an analysis of the output of the Council and the cooperation of present members with the Council and its mechanisms throughout 2015.
The report throws light on the strengths of the Council. One example is how States were able to agree on careful, yet important improvements in working methods to increase transparency and ease cooperation. The report underlines the weaknesses of the Council. We are concerned about the reported increase in the number of voted resolutions compared to previous years. There is a particular emphasis on how the Council can play a more effective role by preventing gross and systematic violations.
The report and the website contains extensive analysis on how Members of the HRC cooperates with the Council and its mechanisms, including with Special Procedures, the Universal Periodic Review and Treaty bodies. There is also an extensive overview of how the Council and its mechanisms have addressed particular country situations in 2015.
The report can be downloaded here
We encourage you to consult the www.yourHRC.org website throughout the year as an active and uniquely informative resource on the HRC.