Saudi Arabia fails to get elected to UN Human Rights Council
Saudi Arabia failed in its attempt to become a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, when China and Russia were elected for a three-year term.
REUTERS / Ahmed Yosri
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The organization, criticized for welcoming countries with a disastrous record in terms of respect for human rights, voted this week to renew 15 seats out of 47. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the only country not to have gathered enough votes.
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Saudi Arabia has been a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council in the past but it fails this year, collecting only 90 votes by secret ballot among the 193 UN member countries, where by For example, China received 139 votes, which allows it to be elected.
Several human rights organizations welcome this strong message sent to the kingdom, a country highly criticized for the consequences of
its military intervention in Yemen
but also for the repression of opponents, starting with the dissident journalist
Jamal Khashoggi, who was
assassinated there two years behind the walls of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi feminist activists are also still behind bars.
"
The Human Rights Council today sent a spectacular reprimand to Saudi Arabia under Mohammed bin Salman
", wrote on Twitter Bruno Stagno, deputy executive director of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), in reference to the crown prince of the country.
The #HRC elections today delivered a stunning rebuke to #SaudiArabia under Mohammed bin Salman: only country not elected, shunned by a majority of the UN.
The kingdom reaped what it deserves for its serious violations of human rights and war crimes abroad.
https://t.co/MArgoHfAFa pic.twitter.com/VN8jaEcRLR
Bruno Stagno (@BrunoStagno) October 13, 2020
The setback is indeed severe for the kingdom which spares no efforts to promote its reforms and try to improve its image.
That will be the case again next month when Saudi Arabia hosts a virtual summit of the G20 countries it chairs this year.
Also criticized for their human rights record, China, Russia and Cuba are joining the UN Human Rights Council, but with 139 votes against 180 in its previous election in 2016, Beijing recorded a sharp drop in the number of supporters.
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