UN Human Rights Council elects 15 members in uncontested vote

Rights groups say uncontested vote undermines accountability as countries with poor human rights records win seats.

The UN logo is seen during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York on September 26, 2026 [Charly Triballeau/AFP]

Human rights groups have sharply criticised the uncontested election of 15 members of the United Nations’ premier human rights body, saying it let countries with poor rights records win seats.

The 193-member General Assembly held the vote on Tuesday.

Positions on the 47-nation Human Rights Council are allocated to the UN’s regional groups to ensure geographical representation. And for the second year in a row, all regional groups put forward the exact number of candidates for available seats for the three-year term, resulting in uncontested races.

“This uncompetitive vote makes a mockery of the word ‘election’,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch.

“No one should have a seat on this crucial body handed to them on a silver platter”, Charbonneau said.

He called on UN member nations to “insist on competitive slates so they can reject candidates with poor human rights records”.

In Tuesday’s vote, the Africa group’s Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Burundi were elected.

The Asia-Pacific group’s Kuwait, Nepal, Jordan and Japan won seats, as did Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay from the Latin America and Caribbean group.

Ireland and Germany from the mainly Western group, and Moldova and Ukraine from the Central and East European group, will also join the Human Rights Council.

The Geneva-based council reviews the human rights records of all countries periodically, appoints independent investigators to report on issues such as torture and situations in countries such as North Korea, Iran and Myanmar, and sends fact-finding missions to investigate rights violations. These include missions in Ukraine, the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, and Sudan.

The council was created in 2006 to replace a human rights commission discredited because some members had poor rights records. But the new council soon faced similar criticism, including that countries sought seats to protect themselves and their allies.

Soon after starting his second term, US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of Washington from the Human Rights Council, accusing it of anti-Israel bias. He also pulled the US out in his first term.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, responding to a question about the UN position on the uncontested vote, said it was a matter for the 193 member nations.

“But what we’ve always said is that member states who are elected to this organisation’s highest human rights body have an added responsibility to protect human rights,” he said.

人权组织表示，不经竞争的投票会削弱问责制，因为人权记录不佳的国家会赢得席位。

2026年9月26日，在纽约联合国总部举行的第81届联合国大会上，可以看到联合国标志。[Charly Triballeau/AFP]

人权组织强烈批评联合国最高人权机构15名成员未经竞争的选举，称这让人权记录不佳的国家赢得了席位。

由193名成员组成的大会于周二进行了投票。

为确保地域代表性，联合国人权理事会47个成员国的席位分配给各区域集团。连续第二年，所有区域集团提名的候选人数与三年任期内可获得的席位数完全一致，因此所有席位均无人竞争。

“这种缺乏竞争的投票是对‘选举’一词的嘲弄，”人权观察组织联合国主任路易斯·沙博诺说。

“任何人都不应该轻而易举地获得这个关键机构的席位，”夏博诺说。

他呼吁联合国成员国“坚持推选有竞争力的候选人，以便能够拒绝人权记录不良的候选人”。

在周二的投票中，非洲集团的赞比亚、加纳、尼日利亚和布隆迪当选。

亚太地区的科威特、尼泊尔、约旦和日本赢得了席位，拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的巴西、多米尼加共和国和乌拉圭也赢得了席位。

来自西方集团的爱尔兰和德国，以及来自中东欧集团的摩尔多瓦和乌克兰也将加入人权理事会。

总部位于日内瓦的人权理事会定期审查所有国家的人权记录，任命独立调查员就酷刑等问题以及朝鲜、伊朗和缅甸等国的局势提交报告，并派遣实况调查团调查侵犯人权的行为。这些调查团包括派往乌克兰、被占领的巴勒斯坦领土和以色列以及苏丹的调查团。

该理事会成立于2006年，旨在取代因部分成员人权记录不良而声名狼藉的人权委员会。但新成立的理事会很快也面临类似的批评，包括一些国家为了保护自身及其盟友而寻求席位。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普第二个任期开始不久，便宣布华盛顿退出联合国人权理事会，指责该理事会存在反以色列偏见。他在第一任期内也曾让美国退出该理事会。

联合国发言人斯特凡·杜加里克在回答有关联合国对无争议投票的立场的问题时表示，这是193个成员国的事情。

“但我们一直强调，当选为该组织最高人权机构成员的成员国负有保护人权的额外责任，”他说。