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UN fills 15 Human Rights Council seats in a vote with no contests
Every regional group put up exactly as many candidates as it had seats, for the second year running. Human Rights Watch says the vote makes a mockery of the word election.
Key points
- The 193-member General Assembly elected 15 countries to the 47-nation Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
- Nepal, Japan, Jordan and Kuwait took the four Asia-Pacific seats; Ukraine and Moldova won Eastern Europe's two.
- Human Rights Watch called it an "uncompetitive vote" and urged states to insist on real contests.
The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected 15 countries to the Human Rights Council for three-year terms, in a vote where no seat was contested. Each regional group nominated exactly as many candidates as it had places to fill, for the second year in a row.
The new members are Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Burundi from Africa; Kuwait, Nepal, Jordan and Japan from Asia-Pacific; Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay from Latin America and the Caribbean; Ireland and Germany from the Western group; and Moldova and Ukraine from Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine and its neighbour Moldova took that region’s two places between them.
The new members join the 47-nation council, the UN’s highest human rights body. Because every race was uncontested, all 15 candidates were sure of their seats before the 193 member states voted.
“On a silver platter”
“This uncompetitive vote makes a mockery of the word ‘election’,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch. “No one should have a seat on this crucial body handed to them on a silver platter.”
He urged member states to “insist on competitive slates so they can reject candidates with poor human rights records”.
Charbonneau’s call was aimed at the governments that draw up the regional slates. With one candidate per seat, the General Assembly had no way to turn down any of them.