International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions Although the Charter itself does not establish a specialized human rights body within the UN system, it provides for one to be established. In 1946, the ECOSOC established the Commission on Human Rights and, in 2006, the GA replaced that Commission with the HRC. The UN has three pillars with a high-level specialist council responsible for each pillar. • The SC is responsible for international peace and security. • The ECOSOC is responsible for development. • The HRC is responsible for human rights. The Charter itself establishes the SC and the ECOSOC and they, together with the GA, are considered principal organs of the UN. Of the three councils, only the HRC has no direct basis in the Charter. It is dependent upon a GA resolution for its establishment, its mandate and its membership. There have been proposals for the HRC to be made a principal organ of equal status with the other two councils but that would require amending the UN Charter, which is a complex and cumbersome process. 3. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY47 The GA is the principal political organ of the UN. It has universal membership; that is, all 193 UN Member States are members of the GA. It has equality of membership; that is, every member of the GA has one vote regardless of population, geographical size, military might, economic wealth or any other factor. So Nauru, a small Pacific island State with just 10,000 people, has one vote, the same as China with more than a billion people or the United States of America, the world’s military superpower and largest economy. Wide view of the General Assembly hall as the President-elect addresses the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly. UN Photo by Eskinder Debebe. 47 For information about the GA, including agendas for meetings and resolutions, see: www.un.org/en/ga. 20 | Chapter 4: The United Nations charter-based system: An overview