United Nations human rights council Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

United Nations human rights council - Essay Example As the newly appointed ambassador of the United States of America to the United Nations, the country I would choose to fill a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, between the Netherlands and France in the Western Europe region, is the Netherlands. Both countries have decent human rights records that have met minimal international standards. However, after weighing and assessing the relative merits of the two regarding human rights structures and enforcement, I would choose the Netherlands. While both Western European countries have a developed network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and independent oversight bodies intended to monitor, assess, and prevent violations, the Netherlands appears to be more open to implementing recommendations and dedicated to raising awareness of its problems among its citizens.Additionally, France's primary area of human rights violations seems more reprehensible, since it stems from within administration, specifically, abuse of powe r by the police forces, a problem that has persisted for years. As was done in this paper, future candidates to the United Nations Human Rights Council should undergo a vigorous vetting, wherein each category of human rights is investigated for infractions, recommendations, openness to and successful implementation of recommendations. The United Nations Human Rights Council is an "intergovernmental body" instituted by the United Nations, consisting of forty-seven countries. ... For the purpose of this paper, France and the Netherlands will be touted as two viable candidates for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. Both Western European countries have laid out their own policies regarding human rights. As France points out, its long history has made it privy to the progression of human rights over time, dating back to its Enlightenment period. France's past efforts to recognize human rights include the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789 and the adoption of UDHR in 1948 (with one of its own citizens, Rene Cassin, having a hand in the document). The country declares itself an avid advocate of international independent committees working with countries in adhering to UDHR guidelines. (French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, 2008) Non-governmental structures and embassy reports help France to monitor and address human rights violations. In 1947, the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights (NCCHR), an independent advisory board, was instituted. This Commission monitors all areas of human rights from police conduct to discriminatory hiring practices and provides overall recommendations on policies to the government (FMFEA, 2008; U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2009). Another main human rights structure is the independent National Security Ethics Commission (CNDS) which looks into allegations of misconduct by law enforcement officials (U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2009). As the Netherlands professes in its official human rights policy, the country works to abolish the death penalty worldwide, supports the rights and freedoms of women, children, and religious minorities, and is against discrimination towards