UN Human Rights Council elects 15 members in uncontested vote

Human rights groups have sharply criticised the uncontested election of 15 members of the United Nations’ premier human rights body, saying it let countries with poor rights records win seats.

Positions on the 47-nation Human Rights Council are allocated to the UN’s regional groups to ensure geographical representation. And for the second year in a row, all regional groups put forward the exact number of candidates for available seats for the three-year term, resulting in uncontested races.

“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”, Charbonneau said.

He called on UN member nations to “insist on competitive slates so they can reject candidates with poor human rights records”.

In Tuesday’s vote, the Africa group’s Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Burundi were elected.

The Asia-Pacific group’s Kuwait, Nepal, Jordan and Japan won seats, as did Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay from the Latin America and Caribbean group.

Ireland and Germany from the mainly Western group, and Moldova and Ukraine from the Central and East European group, will also join the Human Rights Council.