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5 Hum. Rts. & Globalization L. Rev. 25 (2013-2014)
The United Nations Human Rights Council and Israel: Sour Old Wine in a New Bottle

handle is hein.journals/huriglolr5 and id is 31 raw text is: YANIV ROZNAI* AND IDO TZANG** It has been a recurring theme in the human rights literature, that the United Nations (UN) human rights organ-the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has been biased in its country-specific monitoring and condemnation. Israel is by and large a country that is implicated. This pattern was one of the reasons why the main human rights organ of the UN has lost its credibility. The weaknesses of the CHR eventually led to an extensive reform of the UN human rights body in 2006. Is the new UN Human Right Council (HRC) Targeting Israel? The aim of this article is to empirically examine the special treatment Israel received in the CHR and whether this treatment changed following the abolishment of the CHR and the establishment of the HRC In order to do so, this study analyzes, for the first time, all CHR and HRC resolutions adopted between 1973 and 2005 and between 2006 and 2011. Our analysis suggests that the selective application of human rights review and the consistent targeting of Israel by the HRC turns out to be similar and even exacerbated than in its prior form as the CHR. The authors claim that the selectivity of the HRC's agenda is not assisting to promote human rights; on the contrary, it violates the universal nature of human rights and is highly discriminatory. They therefore call for a more balanced approach by the HRC INTRODUCTION It has been a recurring theme in human rights literature, particularly within American scholarship, that the United Nations (UN) human rights organ-the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has been biased in its country-specific monitoring and condemnation.' Israel is * Ph.D. Candidate, Law Department, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE'); Visiting Student Research Collaborator, Princeton University, Program in Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) (Spring, 2013); LL.M., LSE; LL.B., B.A., Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC'j. ** LL.M Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge; L.L.B, IDC & University of Ottawa. The authors are grateful to Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, Prof. Craig Martin, Dr. Hilly Moodrick-Even Khen, Aleksandra Bojovic, the participants of the Creighton University School of Law Public International Law and Foreign Affairs Conference 2012, the Griffith College Cork, Ireland Beyond the Law: Critical Reflections on International Human Rights Law & Policy 2012 conference, and the Southern New Hampshire University Perspectives on justice & Human Rights Conference 2012 for their invaluable comments, suggestions and encouragement. All errors and weakness of argument are ours. 1 See Jack Donnelly, Human Rights at the United Nations 1955-85: The Question of Bias, 32(3) INT'L STUD. Q. 275, 275-277 (1988); Ron Wheeler, The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 1982-1997: A Study of 'Targeted Resolutions, 32(1) CAN. J. POL. SO. 75 (1999); Henning Boekle, Western States, the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the'1235 Procedure. The 'Question of Bias'Revisited, 13 NETH. Q. Hum. RTS. 367, 368, n. 1 (1995); Soli J. Sorabjee, The United Nation and Human Rights, in LAw &JUSTICE - AN ANTHOLOGY 18, 24 (Soli J. Sorabjee ed., 2003) (stating that [t~he Commission has a strong political complexion. Its activities and priorities disclose the political interest and bias of the different states composing it'). Fall 2013-Spring2014 * 25

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