The Russian Federation has failed to get required number of votes to return to the United Nations Human Rights Council for 2024–2026.
According to the UNHRC, 15 states were elected to the council: Albania, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malawi and Netherlands.
Russia received 83 votes, and to be elected to the UNHRC it was necessary to get 97 votes. Albania, Bulgaria and Russia competed for two places from the group of Eastern European states. As a result, Albania received 123 votes, Bulgaria – 160.
In April 2022, Russia was expelled from the UN Human Rights Council. This happened at the initiative of the United States within the framework of a special session on Ukraine.
Washington considered the participation of the Russian Federation in the activities of the UNHRC unacceptable in the context of the ongoing military operation in Ukraine; this position was supported by 92 other states.
Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, accused the US of leading a campaign to stop them from returning to the council.
“The main phobia of our American colleagues today is electing Russia to the Human Rights Council,” Nebenzia told a Security Council meeting called by Ukraine on last week’s strike by a Russian missile on a Ukrainian soldier’s wake in a small village that killed 52 people.
For the four African seats, Malawi got 182 votes followed by Ivory Coast with 181 and Ghana with 179. Burundi, whose rights record was also strongly criticized by Human Rights Watch, was last with 168 votes.
The Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace a commission discredited because of some members’ poor rights records. But the new council soon came to face similar criticism, including that rights abusers sought seats to protect themselves and their allies.
Under the council’s rules, its 47 seats are allocated to regional groups to ensure geographical representation. Members are elected yearly by the General Assembly for staggered three-year terms that begin Jan. 1.
In last year’s election, Venezuela, South Korea and Afghanistan lost contested races, but countries including Vietnam and Sudan, which have been accused of having abysmal human rights records, won seats.
