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China, Russia and Cuba won seats in the top UN human rights body on Tuesday despite opposition from activist groups over their dismal human rights records, but another target, Saudi Arabia, lost.
Russia and Cuba were running unopposed, but China and Saudi Arabia were in a race of five in the only contested race for seats on the Human Rights Council.
In a secret ballot in the 193-member UN General Assembly on that race, Pakistan received 169 votes, Uzbekistan 164, Nepal 150, China 139 and Saudi Arabia only 90 votes. In 2016, the Saudis won a seat with 152 votes.
Despite the reform plans announced by Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch and others strongly opposed his candidacy, saying the Middle Eastern nation continues to target human rights defenders, dissidents and women’s rights activists and has demonstrated little responsibility for past abuses, including the murder of a Washington Post columnist. and the Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two years ago.
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, the organization founded by Khashoggi, said that despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin on public relations “to cover up his grotesque abuses , the international community is simply not “Don’t buy it.”
“Unless Saudi Arabia undertakes dramatic reforms to free political prisoners, end its disastrous war in Yemen, and allow its citizens meaningful political participation, it will remain a global pariah,” said Whitson.
According to the rules of the Human Rights Council, seats are allocated to regions to ensure geographical representation.
With the exception of the Asia-Pacific contest, the election of 15 members to the 47-member Human Rights Council was decided in advance because all other regional groups had unopposed lists.
Four countries won four seats in Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi, Gabon and Senegal. Russia and Ukraine won the two Eastern European seats. In the group of Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico, Cuba and Bolivia won the three open seats. And Britain and France won the two seats for the Western European group and others.
“The failure of Saudi Arabia to secure a seat on the Human Rights Council is a reminder of the need for greater competition in UN elections,” said UN Director of Human Rights Watch Louis Charbonneau, after the results were announced:
“If there had been additional candidates, China, Cuba and Russia could have lost as well,” he said. “But the addition of these undeserving countries will not prevent the council from shedding light on the abuses and standing up for the victims. In fact, by being on the council, these abusers will be directly in the spotlight.”
Charbonneau previously criticized UN member states, including Western nations, saying: “They don’t want competition. … These are basically secret agreements that are worked out between regional groups. “
Last week, a coalition of human rights groups from Europe, the United States and Canada called on UN member states to oppose the election of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, saying their backgrounds of human rights make them “unconditional”. “
“Choosing these dictatorships as UN human rights judges is like turning a gang of arsonists into the fire brigade,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
The Geneva-based rights organization released a 30-page joint report with the Human Rights Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights evaluating candidates for positions on the council. The report lists Bolivia, Côte d’Ivoire, Nepal, Malawi, Mexico, Senegal and Ukraine, all winners, with “questionable” credentials due to human rights concerns and UN voting records in need of improvement. It only gave “qualified” ratings to the UK and France.
Human Rights Watch noted an unprecedented call by 50 UN experts on June 26 for “decisive action to protect fundamental freedoms in China,” warning of its massive rights violations in Hong Kong and Tibet and also against ethnic Uighurs. in China’s Xinjiang province. such as attacks on rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and critics of the government. More than 400 civil society groups from more than 60 countries echoed his call.
Of the four seat winners in the Asia-Pacific group, China got the lowest vote: 139 compared to 180 votes when it won a seat in 2016.
The rights group said Russia’s military operations with the Syrian government “have deliberately or indiscriminately killed civilians and destroyed hospitals and other protected civilian infrastructure in violation of international humanitarian law,” noting Russia’s veto of Council resolutions. Security Council on Syria, including the blockade of Damascus. referral to the International Criminal Court.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Council can highlight abuses and has special monitors who monitor certain countries and problems. It also periodically reviews human rights in all UN member countries.
Created in 2006 to replace a commission discredited due to the poor rights record of some members, the new council soon faced similar criticism, including the fact that rights abusers were seeking seats to protect themselves and their allies.
The United States announced its withdrawal from the council in June 2018 partly because it viewed the body as a forum for hypocrisy on human rights, but also because Washington says the council is anti-Israel.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday’s election of China, Russia and Cuba and last year’s election of Venezuela – “countries with abominable human rights records” – further validate the US withdrawal. of Council. He said the United States has taken its own actions to punish “human rights abusers in Xinjiang, Myanmar, Iran and elsewhere.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called on all democracies on the council to “immediately resign from this shameful and anti-Semitic body.”
Human Rights Council spokesman Rolando Gomez said that when the newly elected members begin their three-year terms in January, 119 of the 193 UN member states will have served on the council, reflecting its diversity and giving it to the council “legitimacy when talking about human rights violations in all countries.”
“If a state believes that it can hide the human rights violations that it may have committed, or escape criticism by being part of the Human Rights Council, it is very wrong,” said Gomez.
