Campaign Begins for a Seat on the New U.N. Human Rights Council

Nominations began Monday for seats on the new U.N. Human Rights Council. According to Reuters, 17 nations have already nominated themselves including Germany, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua. The U.S. has not yet acted. 47 seats are available with seven from Western Europe and North America.

In a twist, nations can now nominate themselves on a special website (if someone has a link, please let me know where it is). Apparently, the instruction sheet reminds voters to take “into account the contribution to candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights.” That does sound like a fairly relevant consideration and I’m certainly glad this is something voters are supposed to at least consider.