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NEW YORK, Fri: The current president of the UN General Assembly, Jan Eliasson of Sweden, has been tasked to "conduct, open, transparent and inclusive negotiations to be completed as soon as possible during the 60th session, with the aim of establishing the mandate, modalities, functions, size, composition, membership, working methods and procedures" for a new Human Rights Council, intended to replace the discredited Geneva based Commission on Human Rights which has come under fire for allowing countries with bad records of human rights violations like Cuba, Sudan, and Zimbabwe to hold seats.

In reaffirming the "universality, indivisibility, interdependence, and interrelatedness of all human rights", the 35-page outcome document adopted by the General Assembly today said the new Council would be responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner.

The statement added that the Council would further strengthen the United Nations human rights machinery and should address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations and make recommendations thereon.

"It should also promote effective coordination and the mainstreaming of human rights within the UN system."

In pushing for the inception of the new Human Rights Council, Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin said at the United Nations summit today: "Respect for human rights is the living heart of democracy, the key to unlocking the potential of every person to contribute to their own welfare and to the prosperity and security of their communities. The UN’s Commission on Human Rights has a serious credibility problem. Its membership, its increasing politicization and its overall lack of effectiveness at tackling human rights violations around the world have overwhelmed its achievements. We need a standing body at a higher level in the UN system, commensurate with the importance of human rights. That is why we support the proposal for an effective Human Rights Council.

"I cannot disguise our profound disappointment that we were not able to agree at this Summit on all of the elements required to make it operational. Canada will not cease to promote actively, bringing a standing council into being, with credible membership criteria. In the meantime, we welcome the universal endorsement of the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour and our collective decision to double the resources available to her office."

Swiss President Samuel Schmid said on Thursday that the creation of the new Human Rights Council,  which stems from a Swiss proposal , must be a priority

"By establishing this council, we should succeed in adapting the UN's architecture in order to make human rights as much a priority as development, peace and security.

"In Switzerland's view, this new body will have to be both more legitimate and more efficient, hold a higher place in the United Nations' hierarchy than the current Human Rights Commission, and should hold its sessions in Geneva," said Schmid.

In echoing these views, the international human rights body, Human Rights Watch said through its global advocacy director, Peggy Hicks that world leaders could help redeem the promise of the U.N. summit by establishing the Human Rights Council without delay.  

Earlier, the Amnesty International said in a press release on Tuesday that the proposed text on the Human Rights Council was woefully inadequate in failing to call for minimum elements essential for an improved and more authoritative human rights body.

"It offers people around the world little more than the discredited Commission on Human Rights with a different name.

"It is totally unacceptable that a small number of countries with deeply troubling human rights records led by China and Russia are being allowed to block the creation of a new, stronger, more effective and authoritative Human Rights Council. The United States of America and the United Kingdom also bear a particular responsibility by failing to stand up for a strong Human Rights Council at crucial moments in the negotiations," said Yvonne Terlingen, Amnesty International's UN representative.

She added that the Outcome Document should also provide the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the bare minimum of resources sufficient for the High Commissioner to fulfil her mandate.

"It must include a commitment to double the Office's resources from the regular budget over the next five years.

"If world leaders do nothing more than adopt a broad, vague text that defers all substantive decisions to the General Assembly, they will have squandered a historic opportunity. Such a damning failure of global leadership will cast a dark shadow over the whole summit and represent a betrayal of millions of the world's most vulnerable people," said Yvonne Terlingen.

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