When the Human Rights Council was created, according to paragraph 6 of its founding resolution 60/251, it assumed “all mandates, mechanisms, functions and responsibilities of the Commission on Human Rights in order to maintain a system of special procedures, expert advice and a complaint procedure.” In addition, the Council had to “review and, where necessary, improve and rationalize” all these mandates “within one year after the holding of its first session,” that is by June 2007.
Indeed all of its some 40 Special Procedure mandates went through the RRI process (review, rationalize and improve), apart from one: the mandate on Palestine.
The council’s lead expert on Israel has the title of “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” The position has been held from 2008 to 2014 by Richard Falk. The title is deliberately misleading, designed to mask the one-sided nature of the HRC’s permanent investigative mandate on Israel. The mandate as it actually is applies only to Israeli actions—and with its violations presumed in advance.
Amnesty International has called for the mandate to be subjected to RRI process, like all other mandates in the transition from the commission to the council. The president of the council at the time, Ambassador Doru Costea of Romania, also called for the mandate to be subject to the RRI process.
However, this never took place, and the Council continues to be in violation of its founding resolution.
UN Watch Reacts to ICJ Ruling on UNRWA
October 22, 2025
