Representative of the World Russian People’s Council to the United Nations Organization attends the UN General Assembly

The UN General Assembly decided to set up the Human Rights Council at the plenary session held in New York on 15 March 2006. The Council is called to replace the Commission on human rights that has been much criticized in recent years for politicalization and selectivity. The majority of 170 voices adopted the resolution while four voices were against. (USA, Israel, Marshall Islands and Papau).

According to the resolution, the Human Rights Council consisting of six West European representatives will be the main UN body for monitoring the situation in the field of human rights. The resolution underscores that the Council will control how the norms of international law are observed. The Human Rights Council is more important if compared to the Commission: the Commission was an auxiliary ECOSOS body while the Council is an auxiliary body of the General Assembly.

During the discussion on basic principles of the UN Human Rights Council, the Russian Orthodox Church stood for the variety of values systems connected with national and religious traditions of different peoples of the world that cannot be reduced only to the notions from the political lexicon of liberal societies.

At the WCC General Assembly, delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate supported the resolution that called upon the UN to set up the Human Rights Council as a body free from politicalization with wide representation of participants.

Among those who attended the UN General Assembly was Rev. Alexander Abramov, representative of the World Russian People’s Council to the UN, secretary of the Representation of the Moscow Patriarchate in the USA.