UNITED NATIONS: When UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed establishing a new Human Rights Council in March, many civil society groups immediately voiced support, hoping it would enable the world body to protect human rights worldwide in a more effective and meaningful way.

But more than three months later, many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are not only losing enthusiasm, but appear to be increasingly concerned about their role in future deliberations leading to the formation of the proposed Council and its work.

The president of the UN General Assembly released a draft document last week suggesting that arrangements for consultations with NGOs under the current system would continue to apply to the Human Rights Council.

But NGOs closely working with the world body on human rights protection expressed reservations about the language used in the document, which defines the role of civil society in the creation and functioning of the proposed Council.

“To ensure the credibility and values of the continued reform process, it is imperative that civil society actors be granted the opportunity to participate throughout the process,” said the Vienna-based International Federation for Human Rights in a statement soon after the release of the document.

Aaron Rhodes, chairman of the NGO Committee on Human Rights, an umbrella organisation representing an array of national and international human right groups, expressed similar views.

“A broad range of national and international NGOs harbour particular concern over the opportunities to be given to civil society groups to participate in the work of the proposed Human Rights Council,” he said in an open letter to the special representatives to the UN.

The 35-page outcome document will be presented to the General Assembly meeting in mid-September for its consideration of the idea of a new Human Rights Council. The meeting, which will assess progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), is to be attended by heads of state from all over the world.

The MDGs include a 50 per cent reduction in poverty and hunger; universal primary education; reduction of child mortality by two-thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three-quarters; the promotion of gender equality; and the reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, all by 2015.

The document envisages the new Council as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly to be based in Geneva, which would replace the 53-member Commission on Human Rights. If a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly approves the idea, the Council will comprise between 30-50 members, each serving for a period of three years.

Annan proposed the establishment of Human Rights Council as a result of growing criticism of the Human Rights Commission, which was established in 1946 as a subsidiary body of the 54-member Economic and Social Council.

“The upgrading of the Commission would raise human rights to the priority accorded to it in the Charter,” said the secretary-general in an explanatory note on his proposal in April. “The Commission has been undermined by the politicisation of its sessions and the selectivity of its work.” —Dawn/The InterPress News Service.