36th Plenary Meeting of General Assembly 71st Session

The General Assembly elected, by secret ballot, fourteen new Member States to serve on the Human Rights Council, at 36th meeting of the 71st session.

• Categories: Meetings & Events / General Assembly
• Video Length: 02:56:08
• Production Date: 28 October 2016
• Asset Language: Arabic; Chinese; English; French; Russian; Spanish
• Personal Subject: PETER THOMSON; BAN KI-MOON
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL - UNHRC
• Subject Topical: VOTING
• MAMS Id: 1759657
• Parent Id: 1758041

Description

Those elected were Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States. All would serve three-year terms beginning on 1 January 2017.

The 14 outgoing members were Algeria, China, Cuba, France, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom and Viet Nam. In accordance with Assembly resolution 60/251, those Member States were eligible for immediate re-election except the delegation which had served two consecutive terms, namely Maldives.

The 14 new members were elected according to the following pattern: four seats for African States; four seats for Asia-Pacific States; two seats for Eastern European States; two seats for Latin American and Caribbean States; and two seats for Western European and other States.

Newly elected to the Geneva-based body were Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Tunisia and United States. Re-elected for an additional term were China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Assembly President Peter Thomson (Fiji) announced that the following States would also continue as members of the Council: Albania, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Burundi, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Togo, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Created by the Assembly in May 2006 (resolution 60/251) as the principal United Nations body dealing with human rights, the Human Rights Council comprises 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 seats; Eastern European States, 6 seats; Latin American and Caribbean States, 8 seats; and Western European and other States, 7 seats.