Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Saturday, May 31, 2025

China, Russia, Saudi Arabia set to join UN Human Rights Council

China, Russia, Saudi Arabia set to join UN Human Rights Council

Rights groups express alarm at countries expected to secure seats on the UN’s top human rights body.

China, Saudi Arabia and Russia are poised to join the United Nations Human Rights Council, raising alarm among rights groups who say the countries are among the world’s “worst rights violators”.

The UN General Assembly is expected to hold elections on Tuesday for 15 seats in the 47-nation council, with the new members serving for three years from January 2021.

“Electing these dictatorships as UN judges on human rights is like making a gang of arsonists into the fire brigade,” Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent human rights group based in Geneva, said in a statement.

“Serial rights abusers should not be rewarded with seats on the Human Rights Council,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Saudi Arabia was previously on the council until 2019. China, which is under fire over its treatment of ethnic Uighurs in the far western region of Xinjiang and its imposition of a National Security Law in Hong Kong, could also return as a member.

HRW said both countries had a history of using their seats in the council “to prevent scrutiny of their abuses and those by their allies.”
“It’s not good for human rights or for the rights council when the worst rights violators get elected,” Charbonneau said.

Only last month, dozens of nations condemned Saudi Arabia before the council over serious rights violations and demanded accountability for the murder Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post newspaper columnist who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The council also alleged other serious rights violations in Saudi Arabia, including reports of torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and HRW noted the Saudi-led coalition also continues to commit war crimes against civilians in Yemen

The conflict has killed more than 100,000 people and created the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, with more than three million people internally displaced and two-thirds of the population relying on food aid for survival.

Xinjiang camps


Writing in Foreign Policy magazine earlier this month, exiled Saudi national Taha al-Hajji expressed his opposition to the country’s re-election.


The Saudi-led invasion of Yemen has killed more than 100,000 people and displaced more than three million people


“If Saudi Arabia succeeds, it will show the world that as long as a state has powerful friends and a limitless public relations budget, it can torture and execute its people, including children, with impunity,” he wrote.

China has been under fire over its policies in Xinjiang where the United Nations says some one million Uighurs are being held in camps that China has said are “vocational skills training centres”. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has repeatedly asked China – without success – for free access to Xinjiang.

Neuer said it was “morally obscene” that China should have a place on the council.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said last month it had identified more than 380 “suspected detention facilities” in the region, and said Beijing appeared to be expanding the network despite claims it was winding down the programme.

A group of 39 countries, led by Germany, signed a statement last week expressing “grave concern” at the situation in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign minister in the United Kingdom, said the British government should publicly oppose China’s re-election to the council.

“The UK must take this opportunity to show that solidarity with the Uighur people and demonstrate that we can still be trusted to defend human rights around the world,” she wrote in a letter to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, noting that under UN rules election to the council should take into account a candidate country’s promotion and protection of human rights.


Russia vs Ukraine


Other countries vying for the four seats available to the Asia Pacific region are Nepal, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, while Russia and Ukraine are competing for one of the two Eastern European seats.

“The presence of abusers on the Council undermines the Council’s legitimacy and contradicts its own charter,” UN Watch said in an official protest to the UN against the candidacy of countries including Saudi Arabia, China and Russia.

It noted Russia’s activities in Syria and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as its attempts to stifle domestic opposition and curb media freedom among other human rights violations.

Bill Browder, the US financier who founded the Global Magnitsky Justice campaign after his Russian adviser, Sergei Magnitsky, was jailed and died after being denied medical treatment, said that if there ever was a day “when the UN was entirely discredited”, Tuesday would be that day.

Garry Kasparov, a Russian chess champion and human rights defender, described the three countries’ probable election as a “joke”.

In the Latin American and Caribbean group, Mexico, Cuba, and Bolivia are running unopposed for three seats. Britain and France are seeking the two seats available to the Western European group and those of others.

“Uncompetitive UN votes like this one make a mockery of the word ‘election,'” HRW’s Charbonneau said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
EU Central Bank Pushes to Replace US Dollar with Euro as World’s Main Currency
European and Arab Ministers Convene in Madrid to Address Gaza Conflict
Head of Gaza Aid Group Resigns Amid Humanitarian Concerns
U.S. Health Secretary Ends Select COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations
Trump Warns Putin Is 'Playing with Fire' Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict
India and Pakistan Engage Trump-Linked Lobbyists to Influence U.S. Policy
U.S. Halts New Student Visa Interviews Amid Enhanced Security Measures
Trump Administration Cancels $100 Million in Federal Contracts with Harvard
SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Failure, Mars Mission Timeline Uncertain
King Charles Affirms Canadian Sovereignty Amid U.S. Statehood Pressure
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Founder Warns Against Trusting Regime in Nuclear Talks
Netanyahu Accuses Starmer of Siding with Hamas
Calls Grow to Resume Syrian Asylum Claims in UK
UAE Offers Free ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions to Citizens
Denmark Increases Retirement Age to 70, Setting a European Precedent
Iranian Director Jafar Panahi Wins Palme d'Or at Cannes
Israeli Airstrike Kills Nine Children of Gaza Doctor
Lebanon Initiates Plan to Disarm Palestinian Factions
Iran and U.S. Make Limited Progress in Nuclear Talks
Trump Administration's Tariff Policies and Dollar Strategy Spark Global Economic Debate
OpenAI Acquires Jony Ive’s Startup for $6.5 Billion to Build a Revolutionary “Third Core Device”
Turkey Weighs Citizens in Public as Erdoğan Launches National Slimming Campaign
UK Suspends Trade Talks with Israel Amid Gaza Offensive
Iran and U.S. Set for Fifth Round of Nuclear Talks Amid Rising Tensions
Russia Expands Military Presence Near Finland Amid Rising Tensions
Indian Scholar Arrested in Crackdown Over Pakistan Conflict Commentary
Israel Eases Gaza Blockade Amid Internal Dispute Over Military Strategy
President Biden’s announcement of advanced prostate cancer sparked public sympathy—but behind closed doors, Democrats are in panic
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki Erupts Again, Spewing Ash Cloud over Flores Island
Indian jet shootdown: the all-robot legion behind China’s PL-15E missiles
The Chinese Dragon: The True Winner in the India-Pakistan Clash
Australia's Venomous Creatures Contribute to Life-Saving Antivenom Programme
The Spanish Were Right: Long Working Hours Harm Brain Function
Did Former FBI Director Call for Violence Against Trump? Instagram Post Sparks Uproar
US and UAE Partner to Develop Massive AI Data Center Complex
Apple's $95 Million Siri Settlement: Eligible Users Have Until July 2 to File Claims
US and UAE Reach Preliminary Agreement on Nvidia AI Chip Imports
President Trump and Elon Musk Welcomed by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim with Cybertruck Convoy
Strong Warning Issued: Do Not Use General Chatbots for Medical, Legal, or Educational Guidance
NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia Launch Strategic Partnership to Establish AI Centers
Trump Meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Historic Encounter
US and Saudi Arabia Sign Landmark Agreements Across Multiple Sectors
Why Saudi Arabia Rolled Out a Purple Carpet for Donald Trump Instead of Red
Elon Musk Joins Trump Meeting in Saudi Arabia
Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept gift of Qatari plane
Quantum Computing Threatens Bitcoin Security
Michael Jordan to Serve as Analyst for NBA Games
Senate Democrats Move to Censure Trump Over Qatar Jet Gift
Hamas Releases Last Living US Hostage from Gaza Amid Ongoing Conflict
×