United Nations elects 15 new Human Rights Council members

The United Nations General Assembly has elected 15 new members to the Human Rights Council for the 2027–2029 term. The election, held via secret ballot, saw all candidates win without opposition, as each regional group submitted exactly the number of candidates required to fill the available seats.

The newly elected members include Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Burundi from the African group; Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, and Nepal from the Asia-Pacific group; Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay from the Latin America and Caribbean group; Germany and Ireland from the Western European and other states group; and Moldova and Ukraine from the Central and Eastern European group.

Human rights advocacy groups, including Human Rights Watch, criticized the lack of competition. Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, stated that the uncompetitive vote “makes a mockery of the word ‘election’” and argued that the absence of challengers prevents member states from rejecting candidates with poor domestic human rights records. The 47-member council, based in Geneva, is responsible for promoting and protecting human rights and reviewing the records of member states.