A/78/PV.17 General Assembly

The General Assembly will consider sub-item (c) of agenda item 114 for the election of 15 members of the Human Rights Council to replace those members whose term of office expires on 31 December 2023. The outgoing members are as follows: the Plurinational State of Bolivia, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Czechia, France, Gabon, Malawi, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Uzbekistan. In accordance with operative paragraph 7 of resolution 60/251, of 15 March 2006, those Member States are eligible for immediate re-election except those that have served two consecutive terms, namely, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal and Ukraine. The 15 vacant seats are distributed among the regional groups as follows: four seats for the African States; four seats for the Asia-Pacific States; two seats for the Eastern European States; three seats for the Latin American and Caribbean States; and two seats for the Western European and other States. The General Assembly will now proceed with the election of 15 members of the Human Rights Council. In accordance with resolution 60/251, membership in the Council shall be open to all States Members of the United Nations, and the members of the Council shall serve for a period of three years. The members of the Council shall be elected directly and individually, by secret ballot, by the majority of the members of the General Assembly. Accordingly, 97 votes constitute a majority in the General Assembly, which has a membership of 193 States. I would like to inform members that the following States will continue to be members of the Human Rights Council: Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Cameroon, Chile, Costa Rica, Eritrea, Finland, the Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Montenegro, Morocco, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Somalia, South Africa, the Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America and Viet Nam. The names of those States, therefore, should not appear on the ballot papers. The election will be held in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the General Assembly on elections. In that regard, rule 94 shall be applied. Consistent with the practice of the General Assembly, if more than the required number of Member States have obtained the votes of the majority of the members of the Assembly on the same ballot, those Member States that have obtained the largest number of votes above the required majority will be considered elected, up to the number of seats to be filled. Also, consistent with past practice, if, due to a tied vote, it becomes necessary to determine a candidate or candidates to be elected or that will proceed to the next round of restricted balloting, there will be a special restricted ballot limited to those candidates that have obtained an equal number of votes. May I take it that the General Assembly agrees with the proposed way forward?

Regarding the candidatures of the respective regional groups, the Secretariat has been informed that, for the four vacant seats for African States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Malawi. For the four vacant seats for Asia-Pacific States, the Group has endorsed four candidates: China, Indonesia, Japan and Kuwait. For the two vacant seats for Eastern European States, the Secretariat has received communications from three candidates: Albania, Bulgaria and the Russian Federation. For the three vacant seats for Latin American and Caribbean States, the Secretariat has received communications from four candidates: Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Peru. For the two vacant seats for Western European and other States, the Secretariat has received communications from two candidates: France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. I have also been informed by the Secretariat that voluntary pledges and commitments made by Member States in accordance with paragraph 8 of resolution 60/251 were issued as official documents of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session. Before we begin the voting process, I would like to remind members that, pursuant to rule 88 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order on the actual conduct of the voting. We shall now begin the voting process. Ballot papers will now be distributed, and the voting has thus begun. In accordance with resolution 71/323, of 8 September 2017, the names of the States that have been communicated to the Secretariat at least 48 hours prior to the election today have been printed on the ballot papers for each of the regional groups. Also, additional blank lines corresponding to the number of vacant seats to be filled for each of the regional groups have been provided on the ballot papers for inscribing other names as necessary. Members are requested to put an “X” in the box next to the name printed on the ballot paper or to write the name of another eligible State on the blank line. If the box next to the name of a State is checked, the name of that State does not have to be repeated on the blank line. The total number of checked boxes and handwritten names should not exceed the number of vacant seats to be filled, as indicated on the ballot paper. Accordingly, for the ballot papers marked “A” for African States, the total number of checked boxes and/ or handwritten names should not exceed four; for the ballot papers marked “B” for Asia-Pacific States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed four; for the ballot papers marked “C” for Eastern European States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed two; for the ballot papers marked “D” for Latin American and Caribbean States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed three; and for the ballot papers marked “E” for Western European and other States, the total number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed two. In the following instances, the ballot paper will be declared invalid: if the number of votes for eligible Member States on the ballot paper exceeds the number of vacant seats indicated on the ballot paper; if all the votes on the ballot paper are for Member States that do not belong to the relevant regional group; if all the votes on the ballot are for Member States that are not eligible for election. In that regard, I recall that the following Member States are not eligible for election: those that will continue to be members of the Council next year and those that are currently serving their second consecutive term on the Council. In the following instances, the ballot paper remains valid but the votes for these Member States will not be counted: if the ballot paper contains names of Member States that do not belong to the relevant regional group; if the ballot paper contains names of Member States that will continue to be members of the Council next year; or if the ballot paper contains names of Member States that are currently serving their second consecutive term in the Council. Finally, if a ballot paper contains any notation other than votes in favour of eligible Member States, those notations will be disregarded. We shall now begin the voting process.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group A — African States (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 2 Number of members present and voting: 190 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Malawi: 182 Côte d’Ivoire: 181 Ghana: 179 Burundi: 168 Nigeria: 3 Group B — Asia-Pacific States (4 seats) Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 0 Number of members present and voting: 192 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Indonesia: 186 Kuwait: 183 Japan: 175 China: 154 Group C — Eastern European States (2 seats) Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 1 Number of valid ballots: 191 Abstentions: 0 Number of members present and voting: 191 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Bulgaria: 160 Albania: 123 Russian Federation: 83 Group D — Latin American and Caribbean States (3 seats) Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 6 Number of valid ballots: 186 Abstentions: 1 Number of members present and voting: 185 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Cuba: 146 Brazil: 144 Dominican Republic: 137 Peru: 108 Group E  — Western European and other States (2 seats) Number of ballot papers: 192 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 192 Abstentions: 21 Number of members present and voting: 171 Required absolute majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Kingdom of the Netherlands: 169 France: 153 Having obtained the required majority and the largest number of votes of the members of the General Assembly, the following 15 States were elected members of the Human Rights Council for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 January 2024: Albania, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malawi and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

I congratulate the States that have been elected members of the Human Rights Council, and I thank the tellers for their assistance in this election. The Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (c) of agenda item 114.