On 19 June 2006 the newly established UN Human Rights Council (the Council), which within the framework of the United Nations reform replaced Commission on Human Rights (Commission), came for its first meeting.

During the last years of the Commission's work, it became in the center of critique for lack of authority and efficiency and for politically selective finger-pointing.

To eliminate above-mentioned failures the Heads of States in the 2005 Summit agreed on replacing the Commission with the Council, which would reflect priority of human rights in the UN System. On 15 March 2006 the UN General Assembly (UN GA) by adopting the resolution 60/251 ^[1] established the Council, which in several aspects will considerably differ from the abolished Commission.  The main difference is that the Commission was a subsidiary body of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), however the Council has been elevated to the status of a subsidiary body of the General Assembly similarly as the ECOSOC. Next difference is that the Council is a standing body with at least four regular sessions a year, whereas the Commission had only one six weeks long session a year. The third important difference is that 47 members of the Council are elected by the General Assembly in which all the UN members are represented. 53 members of the Commission were elected by the ECOSOC.

An establishment of the universal periodic review mechanism, which provides that the Council will evaluate human rights situation in each and every state, starting with member states of the Council, can be considered as the most significant innovation. Establishment of such mechanism is undisputable benefit in strengthening the principle of equality among members of the Council, which would also allow avoiding reproaches regarding lack of equal attitude and application of double standards.

On 18 June 2007 the Council concluded its 5^th Session and the first year of work. After lengthy negotiations in conclusion of the 5^th Session the Council's members agreed on a document on Institution Building Process presented by the Council's outgoing President Luis Alfonso de Alba. The document establishes the Council's agenda and framework for the program of work, functions of advisory committees, principles and objectives of universal periodic review mechanism and special procedures.  

The methods of work of the newly established universal periodic review mechanism prescribes that each year 48 states, comprising a mixture of Council members and observer States, will be reviewed to assess whether they have fulfilled their human rights obligations. These evaluations will not only involve input from the individual governments under review, but also will include contributions from treaty bodies, special procedures and other relevant organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Substantial changes have accrued in special procedures system. The mandates of the Special Rapporteurs on the human rights situations in Cuba and Belarus have  been abolished.

Despite the resolution 60/251 establishing the Council specifies that "members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights", there is still no criteria, which would guarantee that states with poor records on human rights could be elected in the Council.