The United Nations General Assembly will hold elections "in the coming weeks" to choose a country to replace Russia, which was suspended from the Human Rights Council in early April, the president of the Council, Argentine Federico Villegas, announced on Friday.
Villegas explained in a press conference that the country that will be chosen to fill the seat will be from Eastern Europe, without specifying if there are countries that have announced their candidacy.
On April 7, the United Nations General Assembly suspended Russia's membership of the Human Rights Council due to its war on Ukraine.
Villegas said that Moscow vacated its seat, which it would occupy until 2023, and this made it retreat to the status of observer, which allows it, however, to continue speaking during the sessions.
The Geneva-based 47-member Human Rights Council is the main UN forum responsible for promoting human rights.
Its mission is to regularly review the status of these rights in UN member states.
The council can take up any urgent matter in extraordinary meetings, as was the case with Ukraine, despite Moscow's opposition.