NEW YORK, October 10 (IPS) – Egypt and Vietnam are on observe to safe seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council regardless of being woefully unfit for membership. The UN Normal Meeting will elect members to the UN’s premier rights physique in a noncompetitive vote on October 14, 2025.
These 2 international locations are amongst 14 member states searching for three-year phrases on the 47-nation Human Proper Council beginning in January 2026. Vietnam, at the moment a Council member, is searching for re-election.
“Noncompetitive UN votes allow abusive governments like Egypt and Vietnam to turn into Human Rights Council members, threatening to make a mockery of the Council,” stated Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch. “UN member states ought to cease handing Council seats on a silver platter to serial rights violators.”
Egypt, together with Angola, Mauritius, and South Africa are working for 4 African seats. India, Iraq, and Pakistan are becoming a member of Vietnam for the 4 Asian seats. For Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile, and Ecuador are unopposed for 2 seats.
Within the Western group, Italy and the UK are working for 2 obtainable seats, whereas Estonia and Slovenia are candidates for 2 seats for Central and Japanese Europe.
Normal Meeting Decision 60/251, which created the Human Rights Council in 2006, urges states voting for members to “keep in mind the contribution of candidates to the promotion and safety of human rights.” Council members are required to “uphold the best requirements within the promotion and safety of human rights” at dwelling and overseas and to “totally cooperate with the Council.”
Candidates solely want a easy majority within the secret-ballot vote within the 193-nation Normal Meeting to safe a seat on the Human Rights Council. That makes it extremely unlikely that any of the candidates won’t be elected. However, UN member states shouldn’t forged votes for abusive governments which are demonstrably unqualified for Council membership.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s authorities has continued wholesale repression, systematically detaining and punishing peaceable critics and activists, and successfully criminalizing peaceable dissent. Authorities safety forces have dedicated critical human rights abuses with near-absolute impunity. These embrace killing lots of of largely peaceable protesters and widespread, systematic torture of detainees, which probably quantity to crimes towards humanity.
The federal government additionally tries to forestall its personal residents from participating with the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, and punishes those that interact with brutal reprisals. It ignores UN specialists’ requests to go to the nation.
The ruling Communist Celebration of Vietnam maintains a monopoly on political energy and permits no problem to its management. Primary rights are severely restricted, together with freedoms of expression, peaceable meeting, affiliation, and faith. Rights activists and bloggers face police intimidation, harassment, restricted motion, and arbitrary arrest and detention.
Mauritius and the UK, among the many international locations working. signed a treaty that acknowledges Mauritius’ sovereignty over the Chagos islands however fails to handle the continued crimes towards humanity towards Chagossians and their proper of return to all of the islands.
The UK forcibly displaced the Chagossian folks between 1965 and 1973 to permit the US to construct a navy base. Mauritius and the UK ought to adjust to their worldwide rights obligations, together with Chagossians’ proper of return and will present an efficient treatment and reparations.
Angolan President João Lourenço has pledged to guard human rights, although Angolan safety forces have used extreme drive towards political activists and peaceable protesters. South Africa has taken sturdy stances for accountability on Palestine and different points. It needs to be equally strong with rights violations by Russia and China.
The Bharatiya Janata Celebration authorities in India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused entry to UN specialists. Modi’s get together leaders and supporters repeatedly vilify and assault Muslims and Christians with impunity, whereas the authorities usually punish those that protest this marketing campaign of Hindu majoritarianism.
Pakistan ought to stop the usage of draconian counterterrorism and sedition legal guidelines to intimidate peaceable critics, and repeal its blasphemy legal guidelines. The federal government ought to prosecute these chargeable for incitement and assaults on minorities and marginalized communities.
In 2024, Iraq handed a regulation criminalizing same-sex relations and transgender expression. Violence and discrimination towards LGBT individuals are rampant, for which nobody is held to account. Iraqi authorities have more and more repressed activists and journalists.
In Ecuador, the federal government has attacked judicial independence and safety forces have dedicated critical human rights violations since President Daniel Noboa declared an “inside armed battle” in January 2024.
In Chile, President Gabriel Boric’s administration has performed a number one position in talking out on human rights violations around the globe. Human rights challenges, together with racism and abuses towards migrants, stay an issue within the nation, nevertheless.
Within the UK, the authorities ought to finish their crackdown on freedom of meeting. Many peaceable protesters in help of Palestinians or motion on local weather change have been arrested and a few imprisoned after demonstrating.
Italy ought to cease criminalizing and obstructing sea rescues and enabling Libyan forces to intercept migrants and refugees and take them again to Libya, the place they face arbitrary detention and grave abuses. Italy additionally didn’t adjust to a 2025 Worldwide Felony Courtroom arrest warrant by sending a wished suspect again to Libya as an alternative of to The Hague.
The Human Rights Council has performed a vital position in investigating abuses in Syria, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, and elsewhere. It lately established an investigation into critical crimes in Afghanistan by all events—previous and current —and prolonged its fact-finding mission for Sudan. Different international locations and conditions want scrutiny.
Council members ought to press for investigations of abuses by main powers, comparable to China’s crimes towards humanity towards Uyghurs and others in Xinjiang, and take up extrajudicial killings by the US of alleged narcotics traffickers on sea vessels.
For Council investigations to be credible, it wants financing. It’s important for international locations to pay their assessed UN dues whereas boosting voluntary contributions. This can be certain that unbiased human rights investigations don’t turn into casualties of the UN’s monetary disaster ensuing from the Trump administration halting just about all funds to the UN and China and others paying late.
“The Human Rights Council has been capable of save numerous lives by finishing up quite a few human rights investigations that deter governments and armed teams from committing abuses,” Charbonneau stated. “All governments ought to acknowledge that it’s of their pursuits to promptly pay their UN dues so the rights Council can do its job.”
IPS UN Bureau
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