Wishesh Magazine November_2018 Wishesh Magazine November 2018 | Page 57

Its previous tenancy had
ended on December 31,
2017, and in agreement with
the rules, it was not entitled
to instant re-election since
it had by now served two
consecutive terms.
Shaped by the Assembly
in March 2006 as the chief
United Nations body dealing
with human rights, the Human
Rights Council encompasses
47 elected Member States.
On the base of reasonable
geographical distribution,
Council seats are assigned
to the five regional groups as
follows: Asia Pacific States,
13 seats; the African States,
13 seats; the Eastern European
States, 6 seats; Western
European and other States, 7
seats, and Latin American and
Caribbean States, 8 seats.
The new members elected
Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Eritrea, Somalia and Togo in
the African States category,
Bulgaria and the Czech
Republic in the Eastern
European States group,
Argentina, Bahamas and
Uruguay in the Latin American
and Caribbean States group
and Austria, Denmark and Italy
in the Western European and
other States category.
Commenting on the elections,
rights group Human Rights
Watch said “In ridiculous
vote devoid of competition,
UN General Assembly
elected #Philippines,
#Eritrea, #Bahrain &
#Cameroon to be among
new members of @
UN#HumanRights Council
in 2019-2021. Such votes
make a mockery of word
‘election’.
It said Human Rights
Council member states
should seek to neutralize
any attempts by its
“worst members to shield
themselves and other serial
rights abusers & keep doing
good work on #Yemen,
#Myanmar, #Syria, #Burundi
& other crises.”
NOVEMBER 2018 | WWW.WISHESH.NET