Composition

The Bureau

The Bureau is the administrating body of the Human Rights Council (HRC). It “shall deal with procedural and organizational matters” only (Rule 10, Rules of Procedures, Resolution A/HRC/RES/5/1). It consist of five members of the Council, one per regional group, elected for one year. The President is chosen on a rotating basis.

Actual Bureau:

President:
H.E. Mr. Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi ( Nigeria)

Vice-President and Rapporteur:
H.E. Mr. Elchin Amirbayov ( Azerbaijan)

Vice-Presidents:
H.E. Mrs. Erlinda F. Basilio ( Philippines),
H.E. Mr. Alberto J. Dumont ( Argentina),
H.E. Mr. Marius Grinius ( Canada)

Members

The Council consists of 47 members: thirteen from the African Group, thirteen from the Asian Group, six from Eastern European Group, eight from the Latin American and Caribbean States Group and seven from the Western European and Others Group.
States are elected to the Council by the General Assembly for three years. In May of each year, one third of the Council’s members is renewed. To be elected, States have to make a pledge saying they are committed to human rights. (Click here for the guidelines States are meant to follow while making their pledge). Thus, States that manage to be elected “shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights [and] fully cooperate with the Council”.

As with the General Assembly, powerful regional and interest groups play key roles. The Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the European Union, the League of Arab States and other regional groups such as the African and the Asian Groups are the most active ones in the debates.

List of members from 19 June 2008 to 18 June 2009: Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, Zambia

See here for Members sorted per year of end of membership or per regional group

Observers

The 145 countries that are not members are defined as “observers”. They cannot vote, have a shorter speaking time than members (three minutes instead of five) but are invited to fully contribute to the debate. As Geneva is not the main UN headquarters, some small countries do not hold a permanent delegation in Switzerland and some do not have a delegate to the HRC, thus limiting the participation to the debate. Palestine and the Holy See both have a seat in the room and enjoy the same rights as observer States. Others observers include UN agencies and special organisations such as the Malta Order and the International Committee of the Red Cross and Non-governmental Organisations with the Consultative Status.