On March 15, the United Nations General Assembly voted 170–4 to create a new Human Rights Council, effectively dissolving the oft-criticized Commission on Human Rights. Candidates for the Council will need to be elected by an absolute majority of 96 votes in order to secure a position, and once elected members can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.

The European Roma Rights Center this week filed a complaint in the European Court of Human Rights charging negligence by Croatian authorities in the case of a Romani man who was savagely attacked by skinheads. Semso Secic was seriously injured in the attack on April 29, 1999 by a group of skinheads; his son narrowly escaped an encounter with another group of skinheads last year. Both incidents were reported in detail to Croatian police, along with evidence of other attacks on Roma by the suspects, but no action was taken to investigate the crimes and prosecute those responsible.