Special to WorldTribune.com

By John J. Metzler, October 18, 2024

The UN General Assembly held its annual elections to the Human Rights Council.

The elections, or should we say selections, to the Geneva-based Council had all the drama of a preordained contest where approved slates representing regional groups were rubber-stamped in the 193-member Assembly.

Yet, there was one contested election for the Asia group, where in the choice of picking five countries among six contenders, Saudi Arabia lost its place in secret balloting.

Officially these elections, again really pre-picked selections, to fill the eighteen openings for the 47-member Council, are filled by consensus country candidates. Fine. But such done deal  politics often creates a bigger problem, namely where countries like Cuba, China or Sudan who currently sit on the Council,  have the benediction of global legitimacy when ruling on country- specific issues of civil and human rights performance.

So let’s scroll down the selected slates and see which countries will be joining the Council for three-year terms starting in January.

United Nations Human Rights Council / UN photo

Africa; Of the five countries selected only three can be called reasonably democratic. Benin, Gambia, and Kenya, as listed by Freedom House, the respected human rights monitor, as “partly free.” The others Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia, among the most conflict-ridden states on the African continent not surprisingly rate as “Not Free” countries.

Asia-Pacific States; This got interesting with six countries vying for five seats. The five new members among them Cyprus, Marshall Islands, Qatar, South Korea and Thailand.  First off though Cyprus is a Mediterranean island and a member of the European Union, it’s included in the Asian group.  Go figure. The good news is despite the island’s Greco/Turkish divide, Cyprus is a well rated democracy. So too for the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.

Two Arab countries were competing; Qatar and Saudi Arabia. While Qatar though famously wealthy has a poor human rights record of 25 out of 100 and thus is listed as “Not Free” Saudi Arabia ranks even lower with a 8 out of 100 and is equally “Not Free.” Not surprisingly, Saudi Arabia lost the vote. There were considerable behind the scenes political maneuvers to block the Saudis.

As importantly both South Korea, a prosperous East Asian state ranks 83 out of 100 and is highly ranked as “Free” while Thailand, a Southeast Asian Kingdom is listed a “Partly Free with a rating of 36 out of 100 by Freedom House.

Eastern European States; Here there were two openings and two winners. Czechia, AKA Czech Republic, is a richly deserving European democracy ranking 93 out of 100!  Impressive for a country which during the former communist era was one of the most repressive regimes. North Macedonia, a part of former Yugoslavia is listed as “Partly Free” with a score of 67.

Latin America/Caribbean States; Three countries vying for three seats in another closed slate; Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico. The multi-ethnic South American state of Bolivia remains “Partly Free” with a score of 66 out of 100. Colombia on the other hand has faced years of left-wing insurgency and narco trafficking; the country has politically stabilized to a point and is listed as “Free” with a rating of 70.  Mexico though rated as “Partly Free “with a score of 60 faces deepening erosion of democracy and escalation of violent drug and people smuggling cartels into the USA.

Western European and Others; Another closed slate, pick three out of three. In this case Iceland, Spain and Switzerland.  But while all three countries rank as “Free” and fully democratic, there’s a wild card here.  The United States was entitled to run again this year thus extending its current three-year tenure on the Council.  But surprisingly the Biden Administration chose not to run, the quiet concern being that given Washington’s alleged closeness to Israel, there would be a political backlash over Gaza and the U.S. may not get re-elected.  Not surprisingly, Spain’s leftist government is a strong partisan of the “Palestinian cause.”

According to Hillel Neuer of the Swiss based advocacy group UN Watch, who uses its own ratings methodology on civil and human rights, “Currently approximately two-thirds of the UNHRC members are non-democracies.” He added, “When the UN’s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world’s victims suffer.”

And here’s the ludicrous paradox. Having seen many Council proceeding in Geneva over the years, the group has a distinct Alice in Wonderland quality.

Indeed, the annual Human Rights Council elections become little more than a Hobson’s Choice.

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism the Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China (2014). [See pre-2011 Archives]

  but victims aren’t laughing, The UN Human Rights ‘selections’: A globalist joke