Thank you for your letter of 3 March to the former Foreign Secretary, on the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council. I am replying as Minister responsible for International Human Rights.

As you will know, we supported the final adoption of the General Assembly resolution establishing the new Human Rights Council on 15 March, and have worked hard since then to take forward preparatory work for its first session in June. We were delighted to have won election to the Council on 9 May, for a term of two years. This puts us in an excellent position to influence the Council’s work in its critical early years, and we will continue to work closely with others towards the Council’s success.

We would welcome and further input from the UN Association as we take this work forward, and hope that we can maintain continued close cooperation with you on these important issues in the months ahead.