UNHRC has institutionalised bias

There is a glaring disparity in the treatment of countries in the world today when it comes to the issue of human rights. Developing nations, which are often plagued by economic instability, poverty, and political instability, have become victims of an unjust approach by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

- N. A. DES. AMARATUNGA

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), a vital international institution, has a crucial role in the protection and promotion of human rights globally. The council is mandated to address human rights violations and make recommendations to member states. However, a concerning pattern of unfair treatment has emerged in the council’s approach towards developing countries in recent years.

The composition of the Council itself raises questions about its impartiality and fairness, as certain developed nations with questionable human rights records hold significant influence over the council. For instance more than a decade after dozens of detainees were held in a CIA-operated secret detention system in Guantanamo Bay — authorized from 2001 to 2009 — no one had been brought to justice for the crimes under international law and systematic human rights violations committed under that programme, including enforced disappearance, torture, and other ill-treatment conducted by the United States of America.

One of the key issues that illustrate the unfair treatment is the double standards applied within the council. Developed countries, with their greater resources and influence, often evade adequate investigations into their own human rights violations. The council’s approach towards developing nations often lacks tangible empathy and understanding of the challenges these countries face. At the Seventy-Seventh session, 24th and 25th meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, expressing his concern, Gerardo Peñalver Portal, Cuba’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, said selectivity, punitive practices, and double standards contribute to the manipulation of human rights against the South, which leads to distrust in the Council. Many other nations echoed his thoughts.