HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: FIRST MEMBERS ELECTED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 USUN NEW YORK 000946 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM UNGA UNHRC KUNR SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: FIRST MEMBERS ELECTED USUN NEW Y 00000946 001.2 OF 005 ¶1. SUMMARY: In May 9 elections, the General Assembly elected the 47 members of the newly-created UN Human Rights Council. While most seats were filled in only one round of balloting, three rounds were required to fill the six contested seats allocated to the Eastern European Group. Iran's candidacy for an Asian Group seat was defeated; it garnered only 58 votes. Venezuela likewise failed to get enough support. Following the election of all 47 members, GA President Eliasson drew lots to determine the staggering of terms for the newly elected Council, which will meet for the first time beginning June 19 in Geneva. END SUMMARY. ¶2. The election of forty-seven members of the newly-created Human Rights Council (HRC) was held in the UN General Assembly on May 9. Members to fill seats allocated to the WEOG, GRULAC, Asian and African Groups were elected in the first round of balloting. Three rounds of balloting were required to fill all of the Eastern European seats, which had offered 13 candidates for 6 seats. Voting for all candidates took place by secret ballot, as provided for in GA resolution 60/251, which established the Human Rights Council. Following the balloting, GA President Eliasson drew lots to determine which states from each regional group would be allocated one, two or three year terms in accordance with the resolution's provision for staggering of terms for the initial membership (and as described in GA document A/INF/60/6). ELECTED MEMBERS AND TERMS ¶3. Below is a list of the UN Member States that were elected to the Human Rights Council. Parenthetical notations following each member state reflect the duration of each state's term of membership based on the drawing of lots. Africa: Algeria (1 year),Cameroon (3 years),Djibouti (3 years),Gabon (2 years),Ghana (2 years),Mali (2 years), Mauritius (3 years),Morocco (1 year),Nigeria (3 years), Senegal (3 years),South Africa (1 year),Tunisia (1 year), and Zambia (2 years) Asia: Bahrain (1 year),Bangladesh (3 years),China (3 years),India (1 year),Indonesia (1 year),Japan (2 years), Jordan (3 years),Malaysia (3 years),Pakistan (2 years), Philippines (1 year),Republic of Korea (2 years),Saudi Arabia (3 years),and Sri Lanka (2 years). Eastern Europe: Azerbaijan (3 years),Czech Republic (1 year),Poland (1 year),Romania (2 years),Russian Federation (3 years),and Ukraine (2 years) GRULAC: Argentina (1 year),Brazil (2 years),Cuba (3 years),Ecuador (1 year),Guatemala (2 years),Mexico (3 years),Peru (2 years),and Uruguay (3 years). USUN NEW Y 00000946 002.2 OF 005 WEOG: Canada (3 years),Finland (1 year),France (2 years), Germany (3 years),Netherlands (1 year),Switzerland (3 years),and the United Kingdom (2 years). Those announced candidates that were NOT elected to the Human Rights Council included: Iran, Iraq, Kyrgystan, Lebanon, Thailand, Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Greece, and Portugal. VOTING RESULTS ¶4. AFRICAN STATES: Africa presented a "clean slate" of 13 candidates which were elected in the first round of balloting to fill the 13 seats allocated to the group. (Note: On May 8, the African Group, after much internal discussion, endorsed a clean slate following Kenya's withdrawal of its candidacy. This altered the anticipated sub-regional allocation of seats within the region, moving one seat to allow a third North African seat for the group. An African Group member informally told USUN that the seat should revert to East Africa in subsequent HRC elections. End Note.) Voting details follow: Algeria 168 votes Cameroon 171 votes Djibouti 172 votes Gabon 175 votes Ghana 183 votes Mali 178 votes Mauritius 178 votes Morocco 178 votes Nigeria 169 votes Senegal 181 votes South Africa 179 votes Tunisia 171 votes Zambia 182 votes (In addition to the final African candidates for election, Kenya (which had withdrawn its candidacy) received 9 votes, and Tanzania, Egypt and Madagascar each received 1 vote.) ¶5. ASIAN STATES: 13 of the 18 announced candidates from the Asian Group were elected in the first round of balloting to fill the 13 seats allocated to the group. Voting details follow: Elected: Bahrain: 134 votes Bangladesh 160 votes China 146 votes India 173 votes Indonesia 165 votes USUN NEW Y 00000946 003.2 OF 005 Japan 158 votes Jordan 137 votes Malaysia 158 votes Pakistan 149 votes Philippines 136 votes Republic of Korea 148 votes Saudi Arabia 126 votes Sri Lanka 123 votes NOT Elected: Iran 58 votes Iraq 52 votes Kyrgystan 88 votes Lebanon 112 votes Thailand 120 votes (In addition to the announced Asian candidates for election, Qatar and the Maldives each received 1 vote.) ¶6. EASTERN EUROPEAN STATES: With thirteen announced candidates for the region, three of the six vacancies for Eastern Europe were filled in the first round of balloting, 2 seats were filled in the second round, and the last seat was filled in a third round of balloting. Voting details follow: First round: Elected: Czech Republic 105 votes Poland 108 votes Russian Federation 137 votes NOT Elected in the first round of balloting: Albania 31 votes Armenia 70 votes Azerbaijan 95 votes Georgia 35 votes Hungary 79 votes Latvia 50 votes Lithuania 92 votes Romania 89 votes Slovenia 91 votes Ukraine 91 votes (In addition to the announced Eastern European candidates for election, Serbia and Montenegro received 1 vote.) Second Round of balloting: (Per the rules of procedure for elections, the six highest vote getters among those not elected in the first round competed for the three remaining seats.) Elected: Azerbaijan 103 votes Ukraine 109 votes USUN NEW Y 00000946 004.2 OF 005 NOT Elected in the second round of balloting: Hungary 48 votes Lithuania 86 votes Romania 95 votes Slovenia 88 votes Third Round of balloting: (Per the rules of procedure, the two highest vote getters among those not elected in the second round competed for the one remaining seat) Elected: Romania 98 votes NOT elected: Slovenia 80 votes ¶7. LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN STATES: The 8 seats were filled in the first round of balloting from among 10 announced candidates. Voting details follow: Elected: Argentina 158 votes Brazil 165 votes Cuba 135 votes Ecuador 128 votes Guatemala 142 votes Mexico 154 votes Peru 145 votes Uruguay 141 votes NOT elected: Nicaragua 119 votes Venezuela 101 votes (In addition to the final announced GRULAC candidates for election, Costa Rica (which had earlier withdrawn its candidacy) received 6 votes, Honduras (which had earlier withdrawn its candidacy) received 3 votes, and Colombia received 1 vote.) ¶8. WEOG: The seven WEOG seats were filled from among the 9 announced candidates in the first round of balloting. Voting details follow: Elected: Canada 130 votes Finland 133 votes France 150 votes Germany 154 votes Netherlands 137 votes Switzerland 140 votes United Kingdom 148 votes NOT elected: Greece 117 votes Portugal 122 votes USUN NEW Y 00000946 005.2 OF 005 (In addition to the announced WEOG candidates, Spain obtained 1 vote.) BOLTON