The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected 15 states to serve in the 47-member Human Rights Council for a three-year term starting Jan. 1, 2024.
Through secret ballot, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi (for Africa); China, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait (for Asia-Pacific); Albania, Bulgaria (for Eastern Europe); Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic (for Latin America and the Caribbean); France, the Netherlands (for Western Europe and other states), were elected.
Russia in the Eastern Europe group and Peru in the Latin America and the Caribbean group lost their bids. Russia failed to pass the threshold of 97 votes needed for election, while Peru, with 108 votes in favor, was outperformed by the three other contenders in the group.
Candidates in the groups of Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and other states won comfortably as they were not challenged.
China, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, France and Malawi were re-elected.
Ten states will leave the Human Rights Council by year-end: Gabon, Senegal (for Africa); Nepal, Pakistan, Uzebekistan (for Asia-Pacific); the Czech Republic, Ukraine (for Eastern Europe); Bolivia, Mexico (for Latin America and the Caribbean); Britain (for Western Europe and other states).
The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world. About a third of its 47 members are replaced every year so that the council members serve staggered three-year terms for the sake of continuity.
Seats of the UN Human Rights Council are allocated on the basis of regional groups for the sake of geographical representation: 13 each for Africa and the Asia-Pacific; 8 for Latin America and the Caribbean; 7 for Western Europe and other states; 6 for Eastern Europe.
