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.

Minority Rights Group has issued a report calling on the government of Rwanda to implement laws to secure the land rights of the Batwa, or Pygmies. The report states that Batwa are subjected to “systematic discrimination” in Rwanda by the much larger Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, and that the Batwa have been “steadily dispossessed of their lands over several centuries.” The Batwa are living in extreme poverty, and receive little support in the way of government or development programs.