Adrien-Claude Zoller, president of Geneva for Human Rights, says he hopes Switzerland maintains its strong commitment to the new body and ensures the voices of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are heard.
Switzerland, elected alongside 46 other countries in New York on Tuesday, now faces the task of helping to thrash out how the council will operate.
Speaking in Bern on Wednesday, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey made it clear that it was essential members did not "make mincemeat out of each other" in the process.
This is a view shared by Zoller, who has considerable experience concerning human rights and the workings of the United Nations.
swissinfo: Is this really a new dawn for human rights victims?
Adrien-Claude Zoller: Undoubtedly, looking at the long term. But victims will have to be patient.
swissinfo: What insights have you drawn from the vote and the campaign that preceded it?
A-C.Z.: The UN system hasn’t changed. It is the states themselves that make the decisions and it is they who are the members of the council. And a majority of them are resistant to the idea of human rights.
Certainly, there are new conditions governing membership of the new body, but these depend essentially on the goodwill of states. Therefore pressure should be maintained in order to get real progress for the protection of human rights.
What really counts is the establishment of an effective council, and this work starts now.
swissinfo: How do you view the make-up of the new body compared with the former Human Rights Commission?
A-C.Z.: The composition is worse than that of the defunct Human Rights Commission. The proportion of states from Asia and Africa is higher, and these regional groups stymied the work of the commission in the past.
That said, the worst states [in the commission] did not dare to stand for membership. I am thinking of Libya, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
In order for the council to function, a way has to be found to overcome the traditional alliances at the heart of these regional groups. These undermined the work of the old commission.
swissinfo: So the United States is right to be sceptical?
A-C.Z.: Certainly. But criticism is easy. One can always say this or that hasn’t gone far enough. But with the system we have now, which is down to the will of all member states, we could hardly have hoped for anything better.
That said, this is the first time that it is possible to exclude a member state from a UN body for gross human rights violations.
swissinfo: If the council is to have any credibility, how important is it for non-governmental organisations to participate?
A-C.Z.: A body like this, made up of countries, doesn’t have any real credibility. Only the full participation of civil society can give it legitimacy. But the conditions for this have yet to be defined.
In fact, one should regard the council’s first year as a preparatory process. The first meetings will no doubt yield a few disappointments but in June 2007 we should finally witness a session that gets to grips with the main issues at hand.
swissinfo: What are the main challenges facing Switzerland?
A-C.Z.: Since the start of the UN reform programme NGOs have not been listened to, apart from a few exceptions. It is absolutely necessary that NGOs can make themselves heard and that they come with proposals to the initial council meetings. And the bigger NGOs should not have to act as go-betweens for smaller organisations.
Switzerland must support this participation, if it wants to strengthen international Geneva with a truly effective council.
Swiss human rights policy >
http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/e/home/foreign/humsec/humrig.html