United Nations Human Rights Council

Dr Rosa Freedman is a Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and a member of the English Bar. Specialising in International Law and International Human Rights, she has published articles in, amongst others, the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights and the International Journal of Human Rights. She has worked for various NGOs and contributes to The Guardian online

• Part 1: The Human Rights Council’s Mandate 1. Background: From Commission to Council 2. Reforming the UN Principal Charter-Based Human Rights Body 3. Creation and Mandate Part 2: Criteria for Assessing the Council 4. International Relations Theories 5. Roles and Functions of International Organisations 6. Politicisation of International Organisations 7. The United States and the Human Rights Council 8. The Council’s Inaction on Darfur 9. Innovative Mechanisms 10. Conclusion

[Rosa Freedman] does not allow geopolitical considerations or regional alliances to get in the way. Her approach resembles that of such leading non-governmental bodies as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.- Aryeh Neier, Open Society Foundations, for Journal of Cold War Studies (Vol. 16, No. 1, 2014)“In 2006, the UN was compelled to wind up its thoroughly discredited Commission on Human Rights, which was replaced by a Human Rights Council. But hopes that the council would not repeat the politically driven failures of the commission have been dashed. Freedman tells us why this is. It is a depressing story, superbly told.” - Geoffrey Alderman, University of Buckingham, for The Times Higher Education (10 July 2014)