The U.N. Human Rights Commission has commenced its annual meeting in Geneva. This event has long provoked charges of hypocrisy, affirming every conceivable human right while passing over in polite silence the depredations of many of the world’s bloodiest and most repressive regimes.

The majority of U.N. member states were once ruled by dictators, but today nearly two-thirds are led by elected governments. Can the democracies work together to restore integrity to the U.N. Human Rights Commission or will the long tradition of diplomatic back-scratching continue to prevail? Can the commission be transformed into a source of hope for the oppressed and pride or will it remain a stain on the reputation of the world body?

These and other questions will be the subject of a panel discussion, the second in a series of AEI events organized by Joshua Muravchik, who is writing a book about the United Nations. Upcoming panels will examine U.N. efforts at peacekeeping and arms control, as well as special treatment of Israel and the culture of Turtle Bay. Speakers will include Lorne W. Craner, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor; Jeannie Henderson, first secretary (political) at the Embassy of Australia, which is chairing the U.N. Human Rights Commission this year; Alison Kelly, political counselor at the Embassy of Ireland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union; and Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director of Human Rights Watch.