Double Standards in UN Political Bodies: Is Impartiality Possible?
This post examines this challenge for political organs and for international law through both a practical and theoretical lens. The practical side entails a recounting of the brief life of the UN’s International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE), a commission of inquiry of the Human Rights Council on which I served in 2022 and 2023. The theoretical side builds on this case study to ask what is realistic and still principled to expect of political bodies in enforcing international law in a way that reduces the prospects of double standards. Drawing on the concept of impartiality and the unavoidability of selectivity, I argue that HRC inquiries should proceed on the basis of the gravity of violations to avoid double standards (which are distinct from selectivity).