Congress: 109 · Status: active · Israel/Palestine classification: pro-Israel
Data (JSON) — machine-readable record of this bill (identifiers, sponsor, classification, actions, and the member-by-member vote breakdown).
Official record on Congress.gov — full text, actions, and cosponsor history for SRES 387.
Sponsor: Coleman, Norm (R-MN)
States that the United States remains committed to the creation of a new Human Rights Council to replace the discredited United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). Urges the President and the governments of other U.N. member countries to continue with negotiations for the creation of a Human Rights Council. Expresses the sense of the Senate that a credible Human Rights Council would: (1) establish membership criteria that would exclude the worst human rights abusers, including exclusion of member countries subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions; (2) include Israel's full participation; (3) set a size limit consistent with ensuring that only countries that respect human rights are members of the primary U.N. human rights body; (4) exclude any provision that prevents the consecutive election of member countries to the Council; and (5) utilize a formula for the distribution of membership among U.N. member countries that gives priority to countries that respect human rights, while also giving consideration to geographical distribution, the representation of different forms of civilization, and the principal legal systems.
This Senate resolution calls for replacing the UN Human Rights Commission with a new Human Rights Council and sets conditions for what that body should look like: it should bar countries under UN sanctions or with poor human rights records, ensure Israel can participate fully, limit membership size, allow countries to serve consecutive terms, and prioritize human rights respect when allocating seats.
The resolution explicitly mandates Israel's full participation in any new UN human rights body and frames the current Commission as 'discredited'—language used by Israel advocates to challenge forums where Israel faces scrutiny. This signals Senate support for restructuring international human rights mechanisms to be more favorable to Israeli interests.