UN Human Rights Council: Germany remains a member tagesschau.de

Germany has been a member of the UN Human Rights Council since 2020. The UN General Assembly has now elected 14 new seats – and Germany is part of the body for another three years.

Germany is a member of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva, for three more years. At the UN General Assembly in New York, Germany received 167 of the 176 votes cast. A total of 14 seats were newly elected. Germany has been a member of the committee since 2020.

Venezuela, on the other hand, has lost its seat on the Human Rights Council – the country is unsuitable for membership because of its “vengeful attack on government critics,” wrote the representative of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch for the UN, Louis Charbonneau, in advance.

A total of 47 members

One of the tasks of the Council is to protect victims of human rights violations and to promote the implementation of human rights worldwide. As the principal organization of the United Nations, it is the main forum for dialogue and cooperation in the field of human rights.

The Human Rights Council replaced the UN Human Rights Commission as part of the 2006 UN reform. The Council can, with an absolute majority, decide to send observers to monitor the human rights situation in a member state. It has 47 members elected according to regional proportional representation.

Russia’s membership suspended

Under US President Trump, the United States had temporarily left the committee – but returned a year ago. After the attack on Ukraine, Russia’s membership was suspended in April this year by a decision of the UN General Assembly.

Most recently, the Human Rights Council made headlines last week when it rejected by a majority a request from the West for a debate on the situation of the Uyghurs in China. It was only the second time in the Council’s 16-year history that such a motion was not adopted.