UN Human Rights Council 2d ago

The Human Rights Council’s first meeting on 19 June 2006 grew out of a broader effort by the United Nations to reform its human rights system. In March 2006, the UN General Assembly created the Council to replace the earlier Commission on Human Rights, which had been widely criticized for being ineffective and too politicized. The new body was intended to mark a “fresh start,” with stronger rules, more regular meetings, and a clearer mandate to address human rights violations worldwide. Its establishment followed months of negotiations led by Member States and was part of a wider reform agenda promoted by Secretary‑General Kofi Annan. As a result, the Council convened for the first time in Geneva on 19 June 2006, formally beginning its work as the UN’s main intergovernmental forum for promoting and protecting human rights, under the Presidency of Mexico's Luis Alfonso de Alba Góngora. Ambassador de Alba was back at the Assembly Hall of the Palais de Nations in Geneva on 19 June 2026 to look back at that first meeting.