Saudi Arabia Denied Seat on UN Human Rights Council After Global Criticism
Following a vote by the General Assembly, Saudi Arabia suffered a major diplomatic blow on Wednesday when it became the only competing member-state to fail to secure a seat on the UN’s top human rights committee.
The UN’s Human Rights Council has 47 seats, with spots distributed equitably across the globe to each major geographic region, and on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia, one of six candidates vying for only five allotted spots in the Asia Pacific grouping, failed to secure a spot on the committee.
Including Saudi Arabia, 19 countries competed for 18 spots.
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Running against Thailand, Cyprus, Qatar, South Korea, and the Marshall Islands, Saudi Arabia received only 117 votes and came in last place, marking a victory for the human rights organizations that had been actively campaigning against the oil-rich monarchy’s participation in the council.
Before Wednesday’s vote, Louis Charbonneau, the UN’s general director at Human Rights Watch, called attention to Riyadh’s record of alleged human rights violations.
He referenced incidents in which Saudi troops reportedly fired on asylum seekers as well as the Crown’s asserted role in the assassination of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.
“Governments that commit crimes against humanity or similar atrocities and ensure impunity for those responsible shouldn’t be rewarded with seats on the UN’s top human rights body,” Charbonneau said.
Saudi Arabia did not respond to requests for comment.
Several other candidates in Wednesday’s vote, including Qatar, Bolivia, Congo, and Ethiopia, came under fire for their poor human rights records, but most ran on uncontested slates. The new council members will serve three-year terms beginning J
