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China and Russia were elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday. However, approval for China’s re-election on the committee fell 20 percent compared to the 2016 election. Saudi Arabia had also applied for re-election, but failed.
The 193-member UN General Assembly also elected representatives from Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Malawi, Cuba, Bolivia, Uzbekistan and France to the council, which has 47 members.
The UN Human Rights Council was founded in 2006, replacing the UN Commission on Human Rights. With an absolute majority, it can send observers to monitor the human rights situation in a Member State. It can also exclude member states if human rights violations in the country are too serious. The council also includes countries where human rights defenders repeatedly report violations. Therefore, the Council is considered controversial.
Members are elected by secret ballot. A maximum of two consecutive terms per country is possible. In addition, country groups are prescribed so that there is a distribution in the body that represents the regions of the world.
More competition in UN votes
“The defeat of Saudi Arabia is a good reminder at the Human Rights Council that there should be more competition in the UN votes,” said Louis Charbonneau of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch. If there had been more candidates, China, Cuba and Russia would also have failed.
The United States resigned its membership in the Human Rights Council in 2018. President Donald Trump accused the body of bias to the detriment of Israel and a lack of ability to reform. The administration of US President George W. Bush also avoided the council for similar reasons. Under United States President Barack Obama, the United States joined the council.
