15 new members have been elected to the Human Rights Council at the end of a voting system.
The Assembly President Dennis Francis at the end of the ballot count announced Albania, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malawi, and the Netherlands as the elected countries that will serve for three years, beginning 1 January 2024.
China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, France, and Malawi were also re-elected for second terms.
The Human Rights Council, a United Nation’s premier rights body, is saddled with the mandate of upholding and advancing fundamental freedoms globally.
Created in 2006, the HRC consists of 47 member States, elected through a secret ballot system by the majority of General Assembly members.
Its seats are also distributed among regional groups of States as follows, from Africa (13); Asia-Pacific (13); Eastern European (6); Latin American and Caribbean (cool; and Western European and others (7).
Malawi lead in votes for African nations, with 182 votes, followed by Côte d’Ivoire (181), Ghana (179), Burundi (168), and Nigeria (3). In Asia and the Pacific, Indonesia secured 186 votes, followed by Kuwait (183), Japan (175), and China (154).
In Eastern Europe, Bulgaria received 160 votes, followed by Albania (123), and Russia (83). Russia was seeking re-election to the Human Rights Council after it resigned from the body on 7 April 2022.
Latin America and the Caribbean saw Cuba secure 146 votes, followed by Brazil (144), Dominican Republic (137) and Peru (108). This is the first time Dominican Republic is elected to the Human Rights Council.
In Western Europe and others, the Netherlands received 169 votes, and France 153.
The new countries will join Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Cameroon, Chile, Costa Rica, Eritrea, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Montenegro, Morocco, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, and Viet Nam on 1 January 2024.
Nigeria hadonly 3 votes in the ballots and thus lost out.
