Membership was selected from amongst the eligible candidates from United Nations member states in such a way as to result in roughly equal and proportional representation from each of the continents.
As of 2004, the breakdown of membership was: The Sub-Commission had eight working groups to conduct studies on discriminatory practices and make recommendations to ensure that racial, national, religious and linguistic minorities were protected by law.
Nicodème Ruhashyankiko was appointed as a special Rapporteur in 1973 and produced a report The Study on the Question of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, that was approved by the Sub-Commission at its thirty first session (E/CN.4/Sub.2/416, 4 July 1979.
[11] However, as his review of historical genocide ignited a political debate, Ruhashyankiko took the conservative line that it was impossible to draw up an exhaustive list and that attempting to do so could reignite old quarrels and be unacceptable to all of the member states of the United Nations.
The first draft had cited the Armenian genocide, but that reference was deleted from the final version due to pressure from Turkey,[12] an omission that was supported by only one member.
[12][14] His study, Revised and Updated Report on thè Question of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, was received and noted by a resolution at the thirty-eighth session of the Sub-Commission in 1985.
Other participants felt that the Special Rapporteur should have dealt exclusively with the problem of preventing future genocides, without referring to past events which were difficult or impossible to investigate.
Objecting to such a view, various participants argued that the Armenian massacre was not adequately documented and that certain evidence had been forged.That opinions of the Sub-Commission were split came to the fore over the wording of the resolution to accept the report.
[23] In a resolution dated 3 August 1995 the Sub-Commission concluded "that a veritable genocide is being committed massively and in a systematic manner against the civilian population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, often in the presence of United Nations forces".
[23][24] Later the same month on 18 August, the Sub-Commission passed another resolution explicitly mentioning Radio Démocratie-La Voix du Peuple, which had been stirring up genocidal hatred in Burundi.
[verification needed] These debates resulted in a resolution that simply took note of Whitaker's report, but stopped short of endorsing it.mos:LEADSENTENCE mos:LEADPARAGRAPH summarize the body