HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: UN SECRETARIAT BRIEFS ON

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000832

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KUNR UNGA
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: UN SECRETARIAT BRIEFS ON
UPCOMING ELECTIONS



1. SUMMARY. The GA Secretariat and Office of Legal Affairs
provided a briefing April 19 on plans and preparations for
the May 9 election of members of the Human Rights Council
(HRC). The Secretariat reiterated that the HRC elections
will provide for each candidate to be voted directly and
individually by secret ballot, with all vacancies balloted
regardless of whether or not there are regional clean slates.
Despite concerns voiced by several states that the regional
groups' slates should be shown on the ballot, the Secretariat
confirmed that GA members will need to write in their
choices. Candidates can include any member state from a
pertinent region even if a member has not declared its
candidacy. There is no restriction planned on the number of
ballots that may be held on May 9 and subsequently before the
HRC terms begin on June 19, as long as the GA President
determines progress is being made. The drawing of lots for
the staggering of initial terms will take place immediately
following the election. The Secretariat circulated a list of
candidatures that have been declared to the United Nations,
and noted that the UN will translate and prepare as official
UN documents the voluntary pledges and commitments that HRC
candidates present before May 1. END SUMMARY.


2. On April 19, the GA Secretariat and Office of Legal
Affairs provided a briefing on plans and preparations for the
May 9 election of members of the Human Rights Council (HRC).
Officials outlined the provisions contained in the HRC
resolution itself (A/Res/60/251) and in the Secretariat
information note regarding the election (A/INF/60/6) and
answered numerous questions posed by delegations.

VOTING PROCEDURES AND BALLOTING


3. The Secretariat reiterated that the HRC elections will
provide for each candidate to be voted directly and
individually by secret ballot, with all vacancies balloted
regardless of whether or not there are regional clean slates.
In order to be elected, a Member State would need to obtain
votes from the majority of the members of the General
Assembly (absolute majority of 96 votes). Consistent with GA
practice, if a greater number of Member States than available
vacancies for the region obtain the required majority on the
same ballot, those Member States which have obtained the
largest number of votes above the required majority will be
considered as elected, up to the number of seats to be
filled. The elections will be held in accordance with the
relevant GA Rules of Procedure on elections, rules 92 to 94.


4. As the Secretariat explained, given that the resolution
provides that membership shall be open to all States Members
of the United Nations, no nomination or endorsement by
regional groups is necessary, and there is no cut-off date
for a Member State to announce its candidacy. Despite
concerns voiced by several states (particularly from the
African Group, whose group members have said expects to
present a clean, endorsed regional slate) that the regional
groups' slates should be shown on the ballot, the Secretariat
said that ballots for each region will include only blank
lines equal in number to the number of vacancies for that
region. GA members will need to write in their choices,
which can include any member state from a pertinent region,
even if a member has not declared its candidacy. The
Secretariat agreed that the regional group's nominations

SIPDIS
could be informally circulated during this process.


5. Also with regard to balloting, the GA Secretariat advised
that the first round of voting will be open to all Member
States in the region, regardless of whether their candidature
had been announced in advance. In the next two rounds,
voting would be restricted to the top vote-getters up to
twice as many candidates as remaining seats to be filled
(e.g. if there are 2 remaining vacancies, 4 candidates could
remain on the ballot; if there are 3 vacancies, 6 candidates
could remain on the ballot). After three rounds, the
Secretariat said, the balloting would again be opened to all

SIPDIS
Member States of the region to fill the remaining seats.
Balloting would continue until all the seats are filled. The
Secretariat noted that this procedure for restricted and

SIPDIS
unrestricted ballots is pursuant to Rules 92 to 94 of the GA
Rules of Procedure.


6. In response to questions, the Secretariat confirmed that
there is no restriction planned on the number of ballots that
may be held on May 9 and subsequently before the HRC terms
begin on June 19, as long as the GA President determines
progress is being made. They also confirmed that the HRC
may convene its work even if not all 47 members have been
elected by June 19. A quorum of one-third of the 47 members
suffices to convene a session, while one-half of the 47
members would be required to take decisions. Responding to
a question, the Secretariat also stated its expectation that
terms for HRC members will follow the pattern set for this


year, with terms beginning (approximately) on June 19.


7. The drawing of lots for the staggering of initial terms
will take place immediately following the election. The
President of the GA will conduct the drawing of lots by
region as part of a GA meeting. In response to a question
from Japan, the Secretariat confirmed that regardless of
whether the first term is 1, 2 or 3 years, it will be
considered a full term. (Note: According to the HRC
resolution, after two consecutive terms, a Member State is
not eligible for immediate re-election. End Note.)

ANNOUNCED CANDIDATURES:


8. The Secretariat circulated, as an informal document, a
list of candidatures of which the United Nations has been
notified. A number of delegations noted that while they had
announced their candidatures, their countries were not
reflected on this list. The Secretariat promised to update
the UN website on the HRC election
(www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc) with this information.
Including announcements made at the meeting, the UN lists of
candidates for each region include the following Member
States:

African Group (13 seats): Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, Mali,
Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Zambia,
Cameroon, Gabon, South Africa (Note: Interventions by
several African group Member States indicated the intention
for the group to reach consensus on a list of candidates for
each sub-region and the African region as a whole, with the
full regional list to be endorsed by the group. Madagascar
also indicated its intended candidacy to the U.S. Embassy in
Antanarivo on April 13. On April 21, USUN received a dip
note announcing Djibouti's candidacy. End Note.)

Asian Group (13 seats): Bangladesh, Bahrain, China, India,
Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgystan, Lebanon, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Saudi
Arabia (Note: Iraq also conveyed its candidacy to USUN via
dip note on March 20. End Note.)

Eastern European Group (6 seats): Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia,
Ukraine (Note: U.S. Mission Geneva also received a dip note
indicating Croatia's candidacy on March 29. End Note.)

GRULAC (8 seats): Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay,
Venezuela

WEOG (7 seats): Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom

PLEDGES AND COMMITMENTS BY HRC CANDIDATES


9. The Secretariat repeatedly referred to the provision in
OP 8 of the resolution that "when electing members of the
Council, Member States shall take into account the
contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of
human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made
thereto." They noted that links to the pledges and
commitments submitted by a number of countries were already
available on the website. In addition, and in light of
requests by several delegations, the Secretariat has agreed
to translate and prepare as official UN documents the
voluntary pledges and commitments that HRC candidates present
before May 1. In response to a question from the United
Kingdom, the Secretariat confirmed there will not be a PBI
associated with this work.

BOLTON