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53-631: The Whitaker Report can refer to: Whitaker Report (United Nations) . A report into genocide by special rapporteur Benjamin Whitaker, for the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities , UN Document E/CN.4/Sub.2/ 1985/6, July 2, 1985. Whitaker Report (Ireland, 1958) A report into economic development, by the Department of Finance . Whitaker Report (Ireland, 1985) A report into

106-528: A drafting committee for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , which was adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. The body went through two distinct phases. From 1947 to 1967, it concentrated on promoting human rights and helping states elaborate treaties, but not on investigating or condemning violators. It was a period of strict observance of the sovereignty principle. In 1967,

159-649: A new report on genocide. In 1983, it requested that the Commission On Human Rights ask the Economic and Social Council [ECOSOC] to appoint a new Special Rapporteur to undertake the task. Sub-Commission member Ben Whitaker of the United Kingdom was appointed to the position and mandated to write a revised, updated study. His study, Revised and Updated Report on thè Question of the Prevention and Punishment of

212-601: A number of controversial proposals including recommendations that the Genocide Convention should be altered to include protection of groups based on politics and sexual orientation. Also "advertent omission" should become a crime and the defence of obeying superior orders should be removed. The report also suggested that consideration should be given to ecocide , ethnocide , and cultural genocide . The report created further controversy, because in paragraph 24 it stated that The Nazi aberration has unfortunately not been

265-893: A proposal to discuss US war crimes in Iraq . However, the American journalist Anne Applebaum wrote that "the European Union and the United States aren't exempt from blame, either." She cited their hesitance in voting to criticize Russia's actions in Chechnya . The Commission was also criticized by advocates of Israel for bias against Israel . In 2002, Anne Bayefsky , a professor of international law at York University in Toronto, wrote that "commission members seek to avoid directly criticizing states with human rights problems, frequently by focusing on Israel,

318-658: A resolution dated 3 August 1995 the Sub-Commission concluded "that a veritable genocide is being committed massively and in a systematic manner against the civilian population in Bosnia and Herzegovina , often in the presence of United Nations forces". Later the same month on 18 August, the Sub-Commission passed another resolution explicitly mentioning Radio Démocratie-La Voix du Peuple , which had been stirring up genocidal hatred in Burundi . The Sub-Commission, passed two motions —

371-589: A state that, according to analysis of summary records, has for over 30 years occupied 15 percent of commission time and has been the subject of a third of country-specific resolutions". On April 15, 2002, the Commission approved a resolution affirming the "legitimate right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation in order to free its land and be able to exercise its right of self-determination". In so doing,

424-474: Is described as: Other functions and tasks could also be assigned to it by ECOSOC or the Commission on Human Rights. It was composed of 26 human rights experts, each with an alternate and each elected for a term of four years, with half of the posts up for election every two years. Membership was selected from amongst the eligible candidates from United Nations member states in such a way as to result in roughly equal and proportional representation from each of

477-570: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Whitaker Report (United Nations) With the dissolution of the Commission on Human Rights and its replacement by the Human Rights Council in 2006, responsibility for the Sub-Commission passed from the former to the latter. On 30 June 2006 the Council resolved to extend the Sub-Commission's mandate on an exceptional one-year basis and subject to

530-724: The UN Human Rights Council . The UNHRC was established in 1946 by ECOSOC , and was one of the first two "Functional Commissions" set up within the early UN structure (the other being the Commission on the Status of Women ). It was a body created under the terms of the United Nations Charter (specifically, under Article 68 ) to which all UN member states are signatories. It met for the first time in January 1947 and established

583-487: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The body's reputation became controversial over time, as many observers saw it as highly politicized and vulnerable to outside pressure. Scholars have found that states with a poor human rights record were more likely to be elected to the body than countries with good records. On March 15, 2006, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to replace UNCHR with

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636-525: The continents . As of 2004, the breakdown of membership was: The Sub-Commission had eight working groups to conduct studies on discriminatory practices and make recommendations to ensure that racial, national, religious and linguistic minorities were protected by law. By the middle of the 1970s the Genocide Convention had not been ratified by all of the members of the security council and appeared to be moribund after 20 years of inaction. Members of

689-1015: The right to food , and the right to education . Individuals with expertise in particular areas of human rights were appointed by the chair of the Commission to serve as Special Rapporteurs for a maximum of six years. They are unpaid, independent experts who receive personnel and logistical support from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for their work. Their main activities are to examine, monitor, advise and publicly report on human rights situations in specific countries or territories. They are able to write to governments about reported violations and conduct fact-finding visits to countries that invite them. The special mechanisms are categorised according to thematic and country mandates. Special procedures also include working groups made up of up to five experts who monitor and investigate specific human rights concerns. Three groups were established by

742-440: The 1970s, the possibility of geographically oriented workgroups was created. These groups would specialize in investigating violations in a particular region or even a single country, as was the case with Chile . With the 1980s came the creation of theme-oriented workgroups, which would specialize in specific types of abuses. None of these measures, however, were able to make the Commission as effective as desired, mainly because of

795-474: The Commission adopted interventionism as its policy. The context of the decade was of Decolonization of Africa and Asia , and many countries of the continent pressed for a more active UN policy on human rights issues, especially in light of massive violations in apartheid South Africa . The new policy meant that the Commission would also investigate and produce reports on violations. To allow better fulfillment of this new policy, other changes took place. In

848-409: The Commission formed a "Sub-Commission to study, with a view to formulating guidelines, if possible, the question of the protection of those detained on the grounds of mental ill-health against treatment that might adversely affect the human personality and its physical and intellectual integrity." The sub-commission was charged with "determin[ing] whether adequate grounds existed for detaining persons on

901-408: The Commission to project a positive international image. Commission membership also provided some political shelter from criticism of these abuses. Another criticism was that the Commission did not engage in constructive discussion of human rights issues, but was a forum for politically selective finger-pointing and criticism. The desire of states with problematic human rights records to be elected to

954-449: The Commission was viewed largely as a way to defend themselves from such attacks. Activist groups had long expressed concern over the memberships of the China , Zimbabwe , Russia , Saudi Arabia , and Pakistan , and the past memberships of Algeria , Syria , Libya , Uganda , and Vietnam on the Commission. These countries had extensive records of human rights violations, and one concern

1007-526: The Commission were apportioned by region, using the mechanism of the United Nations Regional Groups . During its last year of service in 2005, the representation by region was as follows. The Commission would meet each year in regular session for six weeks during March and April in Geneva , Switzerland. In January 2004, Australia was elected as chair of the 60th Session. In January 2005, Indonesia

1060-520: The Commission who is now the chairman of the monitoring group UN Watch , said, "A vote in favour of this resolution is a vote for Palestinian terrorism." In a letter to the Commission on November 15, 2002, following an attack by Palestinians on Israelis in the town of Hebron, Nabil Ramlawi, the Permanent Observer for Palestine at the UN, appealed to the resolution as justification for the attack. In 1977,

1113-664: The Commission: The special procedures are now under the direction of the United Nations Human Rights Council . The Commission was repeatedly criticized for the composition of its membership. In particular, several of its member countries themselves had dubious human rights records, including states whose representatives had been elected to chair the Commission. Countries with records of human rights abuses like torture, extrajudicial killings , political imprisonment , and disappearances likely sought election to

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1166-615: The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide", 1998/10; and "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide", 1999/67. In 1978 the UNCHR endorsed the recommendation of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to distribute widely the Ruhashyankiko Report . In August 1992, the UNCHR "condemn[ed] absolutely

1219-563: The Council's subsequent review. The Sub-Commission met for the final time in August 2006; among the recommendations it adopted at that session was one for the creation of a human rights consultative committee as a standing body to assist the Human Rights Council. The Sub-Commission was first formed in 1947, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its primary mandate

1272-510: The Crime of Genocide , that was approved by the Sub-Commission at its thirty first session (E/CN.4/Sub.2/416, 4 July 1979. The report was forwarded to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) with a recommendation that it be given the widest possible distribution, and the UNCHR made a decision to do so. Much of Ruhashyankiko's report was not found by the sub-committee to be controversial, for example his suggestion that

1325-460: The Crime of Genocide , was received and noted by a resolution at the thirty-eighth session of the Sub-Commission in 1985. (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1985/6, 2 July 1985). The report consisted of a Forward, an Introduction, an Appendix, and four principal parts: Part I, Historical Survey; Part II, The Convention On The Prevention and Punishment of The Crime of Genocide; Part III, Future progress: The Possible Ways Forward; Part IV, List of Recommendations. It made

1378-492: The Palestinian people was declared "fulfilling its mission, one of the goals and purposes of the United Nations". Of the 53-member commission, 40 countries voted yes, five voted no, and seven abstained. Although widely reported that the resolution condoned resistance to Israel by "all available means, including armed struggle", the resolution itself does not contain those words. Alfred Moses, a former United States ambassador to

1431-469: The Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was the main subsidiary body of the Commission on Human Rights. It was composed of twenty-six experts whose responsibility was to undertake studies, particularly in light of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , and make recommendations to the Commission concerning the prevention of discrimination of any kind relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms and

1484-535: The Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities decided to investigate the subject and over the next decade launched a number of initiatives. which included publication of the Ruhashyankiko report in 1978 and the Whitaker report in 1985. Nicodème Ruhashyankiko was appointed as a special Rapporteur in 1973 and produced a report The Study on the Question of the Prevention and Punishment of

1537-473: The U.N. is also expected to uphold and protect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . At the time it was extinguished, the Commission consisted of representatives drawn from 53 member states, elected by the members of ECOSOC. There were no permanent members: each year (usually in May), approximately a third of its seats would come up for election and those chosen would be appointed for a three-year term. Seats on

1590-479: The UNCHR accepted the recommendation and passed the resolution to enable its distribution, the foreseen distribution never took place, leaving copies of the report to be found only in the research libraries of some major universities Mitsue Inazumi draws the conclusion from the political debate that the Ruhashyankiko report started, that it was evocative of how divisive the dispute over historical genocides and alleged historical genocides is, while William Schabas draws

1643-534: The action were the attacks by the Janjaweed Arab militias of Sudan on the non-Arab African Muslim population of Darfur, a region in western Sudan. The Commission had also come under repeated criticism from the United States for its unwillingness to address other human rights concerns. In 2001, the United States was voted off the Commission by the other member states, many of which have been criticized for their human rights violations, and in 2003, Syria put forward

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1696-600: The concept and practice of 'ethnic cleansing'" in the former Yugoslavia but did not describe it as genocide. The Commission's resolution was endorsed by the UNCHR parent body, the United Nations Economic and Social Council . In November 1992, the UNCHR "call[ed] upon all States to consider the extent to which the acts committed in Bosnia ... and in Croatia constitute genocide in accordance with [the Genocide Convention ]". At

1749-515: The conclusion that Ruhashyankiko backed down in naming the Armenian massacres as a genocide under the pressure from the Turkish state, and that "Ruhashyankiko's unpardonable wavering on the Armenian genocide cast a shadow over what was otherwise an extremely helpful and well-researched report". By 1982, persisting hostility to Ruhashyankiko's handling of the Armenian issue led the Sub-Commission to consider

1802-578: The conscience of the world alive, and prevent the recurrence of that odious crime. Other participants felt that the Special Rapporteur should have dealt exclusively with the problem of preventing future genocides, without referring to past events which were difficult or impossible to investigate. Turning specifically to the question of the massacre of the Armenians, the view was expressed by various speakers that such massacres indeed constituted genocide, as

1855-400: The contemporary [1985] Iranian killings of Baha'is. In the debates over whether to accept the report the Sub-Commission's final report stated: According to various speakers, the Special Rapporteur had correctly interpreted his mandate in referring, for instance in paragraph 24 of his report, to specific cases of allegations of genocide in past. The lessons of history were indispensable to keep

1908-437: The crime of genocide, like the crime of piracy, should be covered by universal jurisdiction, and that an international criminal court be set up to try those accused of genocide. However, as his review of historical genocide ignited a political debate, Ruhashyankiko took the conservative line that it was impossible to draw up an exhaustive list and that attempting to do so could reignite old quarrels and be unacceptable to all of

1961-560: The election of Sudan to the Commission was the lack of willingness of some countries to work through the Commission. For example, on July 30, 2004, it was the United Nations Security Council , not the Commission, that passed a resolution —by 13–0, with China and Pakistan abstaining, threatening Sudan with unspecified sanctions if the situation in the Darfur region did not improve within the following 30 days. The reasons given for

2014-415: The first in 1996 and the second in 1997. They listed weapons of mass destruction , or weapons with indiscriminate effect, or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering and urged all states to curb the production and the spread of such weapons. The committee authorized a working paper, in the context of human rights and humanitarian norms, of the weapons. The requested UN working paper

2067-584: The grounds of mental ill-health." The guidelines that resulted, UN Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care , have been criticized for ignoring and failing to protect the rights of involuntary patients. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) passed a number of resolutions concerning genocide : UNCHR Decision 9 (XXXV); 1986/18; 1987/25; 1988/28; 1989/16; 1990/19; "Fiftieth Anniversary of

2120-549: The member states of the United Nations. This drew the criticism of one member of the Sub-Commission who complained that "genocide of the Palestinians" had been omitted. But most of the criticism was for a change Ruhashyankiko made between the first draft and the final version of the report. The first draft had cited the Armenian genocide , but that reference was deleted from the final version due to pressure from Turkey, an omission that

2173-771: The only case of genocide in the twentieth century. Among other examples which can be cited as qualifying are the German massacre of Hereros in 1904, the Ottoman massacre of Armenians in 1915–1916, the Ukrainian pogrom of Jews in 1919, the Tutsi massacre of Hutu in Burundi in 1965 and 1972, the Paraguayan massacre of Ache Indians prior to 1974, the Khmer Rouge massacre in Kampuchea between 1975 and 1978, and

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2226-811: The presence of human rights violators and the politicization of the body. During the following years until its extinction, the UNCHR became increasingly discredited among activists and governments alike. The Commission held its final meeting in Geneva on March 27, 2006, and was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in the same year. The Commission on Human Rights was intended to examine, monitor and publicly report on human rights situations in specific countries or territories (known as country mechanisms or mandates) as well as on major phenomena of human rights violations worldwide (known as thematic mechanisms or mandates). The Human Rights division of

2279-572: The prison system within the Republic of Ireland , published in 1985. Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Whitaker Report . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whitaker_Report&oldid=1014295368 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

2332-472: The prosecution of genocide. It also recommended that an international committee be created to examine reports by States into their undertakings under Article 5 of the Genocide Convention. The committee also followed up on one of the Ruhashyankiko Reports ideas and suggested that the convention be improved by including a clause enabling the crime of genocide to be tried under universal jurisdiction. In

2385-608: The protection of racial, national, religious and linguistic minorities. Membership was selected with regard to equitable geographical distribution. The Sub-Commission established seven Working Groups that investigate specific human rights concerns, including: The United Nations Human Rights Council assumed responsibility for the Sub-Commission when it replaced the Commission on Human Rights in 2006. The Commission on Human Rights established 30 special procedures , or mechanisms, to address specific country situations or thematic issues such as freedom of expression and opinion, torture ,

2438-578: Was adopted, one that took note of the study and thanked Whitaker for his efforts and also noted "that divergent opinions have been expressed about the content and proposals of the report". Schabas states that "An attempt to strengthen the resolution by expressing the Sub-Commissions's thanks and congratulations for 'some' of the proposals in the report was resoundingly defeated". The Sub-Commission revisited genocide in 1993 and in 1994 recommended that an international court statute be prepared to facilitate

2491-470: Was delivered in 2002 by Y.K.J. Yeung Sik Yuen in accordance with Sub-Commission's resolution 2001/36. The report was adopted by a 15–4 majority of the panel of experts in the Sub-Commission, thereby recognizing the massacres of Armenians in 1915–16 as genocide. [38 U.N. ESCOR Commission On Human Rights, Sub-Commission. on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, (Agenda Item 4), 8–9, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1985/6 (1985)]. and others stating it

2544-412: Was elected chair of the 61st Session. Peru was elected chair of the 62nd Session in January 2006. The Commission held its final meeting in Geneva on March 27, 2006. In 1999 the Economic and Social Council changed its title from the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights ". The Sub-Commission on

2597-425: Was not: The Turkish government intervened to advocate deletion of the mention of genocide. These debates resulted in a resolution that simply took note of Whitaker's report, but stopped short of endorsing it. United Nations Commission on Human Rights The United Nations Commission on Human Rights ( UNCHR ) was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it

2650-595: Was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a subsidiary body of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and was also assisted in its work by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR). It was the UN's principal mechanism and international forum concerned with the promotion and protection of human rights . The UNCHR successfully introduced

2703-541: Was supported by only one member. Ruhashyankiko justified his omission of the Armenian genocide and the inclusion of the Jewish genocide by explaining that the Holocaust was universally recognised while the Armenian genocide was not. In the end the Sub-Commission sent the report with some amendments resulting from the debate within the Sub-Commission to the (UNCHR) with a recommendation that it should be widely distributed. Although

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2756-458: Was that by working against resolutions on the Commission condemning human rights violations, they indirectly promoted despotism and domestic repression. On May 4, 2004, United States Ambassador Sichan Siv walked out of the Commission following the uncontested election of Sudan to the commission and called it an "absurdity" in light of Sudan's ethnic cleansing in Darfur . One major consequence of

2809-438: Was well documented by the Ottoman military trials of 1919, eyewitness reports and official archives. Objecting to such a view, various participants argued that the Armenian massacre was not adequately documented and that certain evidence had been forged. That opinions of the Sub-Commission were split came to the fore over the wording of the resolution to accept the report. In the end the second and weaker of two proposed resolutions

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