Credit: Wikipedia Commons /  Nicholas Maduro, President of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, holding his declaration after being sworn in for his second term January 2019

By  Gary  Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED  NATIONS  –  NEW   YORK  –  U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo is appalled that Venezuela is among 15 new Human Rights Council members that were elected on Wednesday, following a secret ballot held at the  UN world headquarters in New York.  The Council, which meets throughout the year at the UN Office in Geneva, is an international body, within the UN system, made up of 47 States, and is responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world. It has the power to launch fact-finding missions and establish commissions of inquiry into specific situations.   The following 15 Members were elected to the Human Rights Council for a period of two years (2021-2023):  Bolivia, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, France, Gabon, Malawi, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Senegal, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and United Kingdom. Venezuela was elected in 2019 and has been accused of gross human rights violations, under Nicholas Maduro’s leadership. 

In 2018, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council due to its well-established pattern of anti-Israel bias and membership rules that allow the election of the world’s worst human rights abusers to seats on the Council.  Prior to making this decision, and after our exit, the United States has urged UN member states to take immediate action to reform the Council before it became irreparable.  Unfortunately, those calls went unheeded, and today the UN General Assembly once again elected countries with abhorrent human rights records, including China, Russia, and Cuba. Venezuela was elected in 2019.

U.S. Secretary Of State Michael Pompeo

That one of the world’s worst human-rights abusers would be granted a seat on a body that is supposed to defend human rights is utterly appalling – Pompeo said in reaction to Venezuela being elected to UN Human Rights Council. 

China is under scrutiny for its oppression of Uighur Muslims in the country’s Xinjiang region as well as its imposition of a National Security Law in Hong Kong and a rolling back of freedoms in that territory.

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A delegate casts her vote as the General Assembly holds election of members to the Human Rights Council during the 16th plenary meeting at UN world headquarters in New York Oct. 13, 2020. (UN Photo/Loey Felipe)

Pompeo added that  the UN elections only further validate the U.S. decision to withdraw and use other venues and opportunities to protect and promote universal human rights.  “The United States’ commitment to human rights consists of far more than just words. Through the State Department’s action, we have punished human rights abusers in Xinjiang, Myanmar, Iran, and elsewhere. Our commitments are spelled out clearly in the UN’s Declaration, and in our record of action.  The United States is a force for good in the world, and always will be,” Pompeo said.

While China and Russia have won elected seats in the UN Human Rights Council despite engaging in  human-rights abuses against their own population,  Saudi Arabia was rejected to the world body.  Russia is accused of poisoning a prominent Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny.  Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, a well-known human-rights offender, was a surprise loser, not winning enough votes for a seat.  Russia and China carry a lot of diplomatic weight in the UN. Cuba was elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council despite increased government repression. 

“Serial rights abusers should not be rewarded with seats on the Human Rights Council,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch.

Another government that has used its past stints on the council to undermine human rights is Cuba’s, according to Human Rights Watch.   “Havana worked hard to protect abusive governments like Nicolás Maduro’s in Venezuela from Human Rights Council scrutiny. At home, the Cuban government suppresses and punishes all forms of dissent and routinely targets journalists, protesters, and human rights defenders.”