RES/4/6 Strengthening of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Human Rights Council

Resolution 4/6. Strengthening of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling all relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights, in particular Assembly resolutions 48/141 of 20 December 1993 and 55/234 of 23 December 2000, and Commission resolutions 1998/83 of 24 April 1998, 1999/54 of 27 April 1999, 2000/1 of 7 April 2000, 2002/2 of 12 April 2002 and 2004/2 of 8 April 2004,

Recalling paragraph 5 (g) of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, in which the Assembly decided that the Human Rights Council should assume the role and responsibilities of the Commission on Human Rights relating to the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as decided by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993,

Taking note with satisfaction that the regular budget resources of the Office of the High Commissioner will be doubled by 2010,

Taking note with appreciation that the unearmarked contributions of donors are on the increase, which gives the Office of the High Commissioner flexibility in the allocation of resources for its operational activities in accordance with the resolutions of the Council and other relevant United Nations organs and bodies, and with a view to treating all human rights in a fair and equal manner,

Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated and that the international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with the same emphasis,

Recalling that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights,

Reaffirming the importance of ensuring universality, objectivity and non‑selectivity in the consideration of human rights issues and, in this context, underlining the need for continuing to ensure the implementation of these principles by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the fulfilment of her mandate and the activities of her Office,

Encouraging the High Commissioner, within her mandate as set out in General Assembly resolution 48/141, to continue to play an active role in promoting and protecting all civil, cultural, economic, political, social rights and the right to development,

Recalling also that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted in June 1993 at the World Conference on Human Rights (A/CONF.157/23), recognized the necessity for an adaptation and strengthening of United Nations human rights machinery in accordance with current and future needs in the promotion and protection of human rights,

Reaffirming that the High Commissioner shall be a person of high moral standing and personal integrity and shall possess expertise, including in the field of human rights, and the general knowledge and understanding of diverse cultures and different legal systems necessary for impartial, objective, non‑selective and effective performance of the duties of the High Commissioner,

Taking note of General Assembly resolution 61/159, and the relevant reports of the High Commissioner (A/HRC/4/93) and the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU/REP/2006/3) concerning the composition of the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner,

Welcoming the decision of the Secretary‑General in his note on the follow-up to the management review of the Office of the High Commissioner (A/61/115/Add.1) to the effect

that “the report of the Joint Inspection Unit on the follow-up to the management review of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (JIU/REP/2006/3 contained in A/61/115) will therefore be submitted to the Human Rights Council”,

Convinced of the need for further and continued support and consideration of the programmes and activities of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,

1. Emphasizes that the Office of the High Commissioner is a common office for all and should therefore reflect a diversity of backgrounds and, in this context, recalls that the Office of the High Commissioner, as part of the United Nations Secretariat, is governed by Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations concerning staffing policies, which is essential for ensuring the implementation of the principles of universality, objectivity and non‑selectivity in the consideration of human rights issues;

2. Requests the Secretary‑General to give due consideration to geographical rotation when appointing the High Commissioner, as set out in General Assembly resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993;

3. Encourages the Office of the High Commissioner to continue the current practice of making the best use of available human rights expertise relevant to and, as appropriate, from the regions where activities are undertaken;

4. Calls upon the High Commissioner to take into account all relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Council in planning the activities of the Office and requests her to reflect them appropriately in her annual reports to the Council and the Assembly;

5. Encourages the Office of the High Commissioner to ensure transparency in its activities and operation through a process of continued dialogue and consultations with Member States through, inter alia, regular briefings and taking into account relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Council;

6. Requests the High Commissioner in this regard to provide all States with adequate financial and budgetary information on the Office by, inter alia, holding informal briefings on voluntary contributions, including their share of the overall full‑cost budget of the human rights programme, and their allocation;

7. Reiterates the need to ensure that all necessary financial, material and personnel resources are provided from the regular budget of the United Nations without delay to the United Nations human rights programme to enable the Office of the High Commissioner to carry out its mandates efficiently, effectively and expeditiously;

8. Welcomes the voluntary contributions to the Office of the High Commissioner, in particular those from developing countries, and in this context calls upon donors to take into account the High Commissioner’s call for unearmarked contributions;

9. Reaffirms that the tasks of the High Commissioner include promoting and protecting the realization of the right to development and that the Office of the High Commissioner should devote adequate resources and staff to its follow‑up, with a view to enhancing activities of the Office for its effective realization;

10. Calls upon the High Commissioner to continue to emphasize the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights in the activities of her Office and, in that regard, encourages the High Commissioner to continue to strengthen her relationship with the appropriate bodies, funds and specialized agencies of the United Nations;

11. Also calls upon the High Commissioner to continue to strengthen the management structure of her Office, including human resource management, and to improve the responsiveness of her Office in all priority areas, especially economic, social and cultural rights, which require particular research and analytical capacity;

12. Requests the High Commissioner to enhance international cooperation for the promotion and protection of all human rights and to engage in a dialogue with all Governments in the implementation of her mandate with a view to securing respect for all human rights;

13. Declares that advisory services and technical cooperation provided at the request of Governments with a view to developing national capacities and national ownership in the field of human rights constitute one of the most efficient and effective means of promoting and protecting all human rights and democracy;

14. Emphasizes the need for an increase in the allocation of resources from within the United Nations regular budget for advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights;

15. Invites the High Commissioner to continue to provide information on cooperation with other United Nations bodies and also invites her to make available information concerning agreements with other United Nations bodies and their implementation, in an open and transparent manner, as appropriate;

16. Requests the High Commissioner to take further measures to implement the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit with a view to improving the geographic balance of the staff composition of her Office at all levels;

17. Emphasizes in this regard the need to take into account the request made by Fifth Committee resolution 61/244 that the Secretary-General present to the General Assembly, in consultation with the Office of the High Commissioner, proposals to address the imbalance in the geographic distribution of the staff in that Office;

18. Again invites the High Commissioner to submit information pursuant to the present resolution in her annual report to the Council;

19. Decides to consider the implementation of the present resolution at a future session under the relevant agenda item.

Adopted by a recorded vote of 35,
with 12 abstentions

31st meeting
30 March 2007

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