Foreign
The replacement for U.S. on the UN Human Rights Council would be elected “as soon as possible”, President of the Geneva-based assembly, Vojislav Šuc, has said.
International reaction to the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Council continued on Wednesday with Šuc confirming that the election of a new Member State would take place “as soon as possible” to fill the vacant seat.
The development followed an announcement on Tuesday by Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, that the U.S. was pulling out after repeated warnings during the past year that the Council was allegedly biased against Israel and in need of major reform.
Reacting to the U.S. move, Šuc said that the poll would take place once the U.S. “notification of withdrawal is formally received”.
Members are elected by majority vote at the UN General Assembly in New York and Šuc told the 47-State body in Geneva that he intended to “be in touch” with its President, Miroslav Lajčák, about choosing a replacement to complete the unfinished U.S. term.
Commenting on the development, Lajčák’s office issued a statement noting his regret at the U.S. move.
He said the U.S. had traditionally played a “strong human rights advocacy role” across the world, adding that in view of today’s global challenges, he “believes that our collective work to ensure a better world will benefit from more dialogue and collaboration – not less”.
Also reacting to the U.S. decision, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al-Hussein described it as “disappointing, if not really surprising”.
Zeid said the U.S. should be “stepping up, not stepping back” given the state of human rights today, echoing comments by UN Secretary-General António Guterres that he would have “much preferred” the U.S. to remain.
At the start of the Council’s 38th Session on Monday, Zeid defended multilateralism and rounded on the rise of what he described as “chauvinistic nationalism” as the greatest threat to the world.
He said too many Governments had failed to make a success of the UN by “feigning a commitment to the common effort”, highlighting rights concerns in more than 20 countries, including Israel and the U.S.
Under the General Assembly rules, membership of the Human Rights Council is open to all UN Member States.
It is based on fair geographical representation and members serve for three years at a time but are not eligible for immediate re-election after two consecutive terms.
The U.S. was first elected to the Council in 2009, three years after the Geneva body was created by the General Assembly as the organisation’s principal political human rights body, replacing the Commission on Human Rights.
It is only halfway through its current term. (NAN)
– June 21, 2018 @ 09:27 GMT |
Tags: President of the Geneva-based assembly The replacement for U.S. on the UN Human Rights Council would be elected “as soon as possible”
