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The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which met from January 28 to March 8, 1991, in the shadow of the gulf war, nevertheless completed what many observers considered its most productive session in recent history. The Commission took action on a record of nineteen country situations—creating new rapporteurs on Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait—began plans for a 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, and set up an intersessional working group to complete a draft declaration on disappearances. The most important long-term accomplishment of the Commission, however, was the creation of a five-member working group to investigate cases of arbitrary detention throughout the world.

1. The official report of the 42nd session is found in U.N. Doc. E/UCN.4/Sub.2/1990/59 (1990) (hereinafter 1990 Report). The United Nations Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities was established by the Commission on Human Rights in 1947 to make recommendations on issues related to discrimination and minorities. The scope of human rights issues considered by the Sub-Commission increased as the human rights issues considered by the Commission grew. The Sub-Commission helps the Commission develop international standards in many areas of human rights by producing reports, studies, and draft instruments on human rights. This article is adapted from one which appeared in 45 ICJ Rev. 15 (1990). The authors also wish to thank Leslie Anderson for her help on the section of this article dealing with the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. For other analyses of the 1990 session see generally, Macpherson, U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 42nd Session, Quaker United Nations Office, (1990); Zoller, Reform, Independence and Expertise: Analysis of the 42nd Session of the U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 10 Hum. Rts. Monitor 3 (1990). For analyses of previous sessions of the Sub-Commission see generally, Maher & Weissbrodt, The 41st Session of the U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 12 Hum. Rts. Q. 290 (1990); Brennan, Brody & Weissbrodt, The 40th Session of the U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 11 Hum. Rts. Q. 295 (1989); Rosen & Weissbrodt, The 39th Session of the U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 10 Hum. Rts. Q. 487 (1988). For other articles on the Sub-Commission see Maher & Weissbrodt, supra, at 290.

The forty-sixth session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights met from 29 January to 9 March 1990. It was the first meeting of the Commission following the democratic changes in Central Europe, the suppression of the pro-democracy movement in China, and the US invasion of Panama. The Commission also met after the General Assembly had called for an enlargement of its membership to remedy the under-representation of third world countries, while asking the Commission to study ways of making its work more effective. The Commission adopted eighty-one resolutions and sixteen decisions, of which sixty-two resolutions and thirteen decisions were adopted by consensus.' Among the principal results of the session, which was marked by a growing north-south split, were resolutions on Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Myanmar (Burma), and the US invasion of Panama. The Commission failed to act, however, on resolutions regarding China and Iraq, or to break new ground on thematic issues. It also failed to reach any decision on enhancing its working methods-a decision later taken by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in May 1990. The outgoing chairman, Marc Bossuyt of Belgium, began the session with a minute of silence to remember the late Andrei Sakharov as well as all those who died during the year in the struggle for human rights. UnderSecretary-General Jan Martenson noted that the past year had seen the

On 10 March 1989 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights concluded its six week session in Geneva with a number of significant decisions as to country situations in which human rights violations have occurred, including the establishment of a Special Rapporteur on Romania. The Commission also continued monitoring disappearances, torture, executions, religious intolerance, and mercenaries; approved a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child after nine years of discussion; promptly transmitted to the General Assembly a draft Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights for the abolition of the death penalty; reaffirmed the right of conscientious objection to military service; renewed emphasis on the provision of advisory services to assist governments in protecting the rights of their citizens; and acted on a number of other matters.' The Commission session was marred, however, by the failure to take any action on human rights abuses in Iraq or even to discuss human rights in Africa (outside of Southern Africa). The Commission also refused to seek greater scrutiny of the human rights situation in Cuba, despite strenuous lobbying by the United States delegation.