The UN Human Rights Council’s Relationship with other Entities

Academic Paper from the year 2016 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, language: English, abstract: The UN Human Rights Council is the central body for human rights globally. It does not exist in a vacuum from the UN and broader international systems. This article describes the Human Rights Council's place, and the formal and informal links that exist between it and other organs, bodies and processes, both within the UN system and beyond. The first section of this chapter briefly sets the context by explaining the institutional positioning of the Council within the UN system. The second section concentrates on institutional and formal relationships between the Council and other entities, namely the UN General Assembly, including its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian Cultural Affairs) and Fifth Committee (Administration and Budgetary) as well as the human rights treaty bodies, especially in the context of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Due to length constraints, the relationship between the Council and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will not be addressed in this article. The third section analyses the relations and interactions that have developed in practice outside of formal procedures. This includes relations to UN entities, such as the Security Council, the UN Secretariat, the UN agencies, funds and programs, as well as with actors outside of the UN, namely the International Criminal Court (ICC), regional and sub-regional organisations, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).