UN General Assembly elects 18 members to Human Rights Council

New York (IINA) – The UN General Assembly on Wednesday elected 18 states to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.
Those elected were Belgium, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Panama, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Togo, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.  All will serve three-year term beginning from 1 January 2016.
The 18 new members were elected according to the following pattern: five seats each for African States and  Asia-Pacific States, three seats each for Latin American and Caribbean states, as well as for Western European and other states, and two seats for East European states.
Of those elected, Burundi, Georgia, Togo, Mongolia and Panama will be sitting on the Geneva-based body for the first time.  Re-elected for an additional term was Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Germany, Kenya, Republic of Korea, UAE and Venezuela.
General Assembly President Federico A. Gonzàlez announced that the following states would also continue as members of the Human Rights Council: Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, China, Congo, Cuba, El Salvador, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom and Vietnam.
Created by the General Assembly in May 2006 as the principal UN body dealing with human rights, the Human Rights Council is comprised of 47 elected member states. On the basis of equitable geographical distribution, Council seats are allocated to the five regional groups as follows:  African states 13 seats; Asia-Pacific states 13; Eastern European states 6; Latin American and Caribbean states 8; and Western European and other states 7 seats.
The General Assembly will reconvene on Friday to discuss the question of equitable representation on the Security Council and increase its membership as well as other matters related to the Security Council.
AB/IINA

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