Carter Center - Brookings Institution: U.S. Engagement With the U.N. Human Rights System

Human Rights Program

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U.S. Engagement With the U.N. Human Rights System

Washington, D.C.

Feb. 16, 2010

On Feb. 16, 2010, The Carter Center and the Brookings Institution's Managing Global Insecurity Initiative convened international human rights advocates to evaluate the impact of the U.N.'s human rights system on their work as the U.N. Human Rights Council approaches its five year review. Participants applauded the decision by the Obama Administration to re-engage with the United Nations and offered a number of steps the United States can take to help strengthen these agencies that are so vital to the advancement of human rights globally.

President Obama was widely praised by human rights activists for his stated commitment to lead by example in the advancement of global cooperation, human rights, and international law. Concern remains, however, that erosions of human rights that took place under the previous administration continue to undermine global rights standards.

When it joined the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2009, the United States sent a clear signal that it would help make the organization a stronger force for human rights in the coming years. The human rights leaders gathered expressed the hope that the Administration would press forward with this approach by:

fully implementing the president's commitment to bring U.S. human rights policies and practices into compliance with universal human rights norms and accept scrutiny of its own record by U.N. bodies,
submitting a rigorous national report to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process,
insisting on increased attention and action on serious human rights situations, wherever they occur,
protecting and strengthening the independence and involvement of the Special Procedures,
pressing for robust participation of NGOs within the U.N. human rights system, and
protecting existing international human rights standards from being weakened.

Read the event's summary and recommendations (PDF) >

Read the event transcript (PDF) >

Listen to the full event audio >

Read bios of participants (PDF) >

Photo credit: Carter Center
(Click to enlarge)

Human rights defenders and experts brought together by The Carter Center and the Brookings Institution are pictured following their meeting with staff members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Photo credit: Carter Center/E. Crysler
(Click to enlarge)

Human rights defenders and experts stress the importance of U.S. leadership in the U.N. human rights system during a meeting with senior State Department officials in February 2010.