Human Instrumentality Committee

The Human Instrumentality Committee as they meet with Gendo

The Human Instrumentality Committee is apparently the inner circle of Seele, which directly oversees the progress of Nerv, officially in the name of the United Nations (which it actually controls). The Instrumentality Committee is composed of five members, and is also headed by Chairman Keel Lorenz. All meetings of the Committee are held by video conference. Unlike meetings of the full Seele council, video conferences of the Committee actually show images of all members. Only Keel is actually assigned a name in the series; the other Committee members are only designated by the shaded color of their video conferencing image.

The five members of the Committee each "represent" a different country (maintaining the public facade that they are a subcommittee of the UN):

• Germany - Chairman Keel (In full color)
• France - Yellow
• Russia - Blue
• United States of America - Green
• United Kingdom - Red

Four out of five of the countries represented on the Human Instrumentality Committee are also permanent members of the present-day UN Security Council. China, the remaining permanent Security Council member, is notably absent, with the fifth seat on the Instrumentality Committee going to Germany.

Notes

• The only member whose country is revealed in the show is "Green", during an interchange among the Committee members after reviewing the battle against Gaghiel in Episode 14. The rest are known only from production drawings in Newtype 100% (scan)
• The Committee only appear in episodes 2, 10, 14, 17, and 20. In Episode 20, they convened without Gendo.

• In English, Instrumentality is a reference to Instrumentality of Mankind, from Cordwainer Smith's sci-fi novels. In the original Japanese, however, it is referred to as 補完 (Hokan). "Ho" translates literally to "supplement, supply, make good, offset, compensate, assistant, learner" and "kan" to "perfect, completion, end". translate literally to "complete" or "completion". In many early fan translations, it is referred to as "Complementation". This nuance can be understood as the separate, individual egos of humankind being complemented by others. Alternatively, it can also have a nuance of "perfecting" humanity into a superior being. The "tuning" metaphor present in Death & Rebirth is also appropriate.