UN: Abusive Governments Set to Win Rights Council Seats
Egypt, Vietnam, Others Benefit from Non-Competitive Vote
HRW | 2025-10-09
(New York, October 9, 2025) – Egypt and Vietnam are
on track to secure seats on the United
Nations Human Rights Council despite being woefully unfit for membership,
Human Rights Watch said today. The UN General Assembly will elect members to the
UN’s premier rights body in a noncompetitive vote on October 14, 2025.
The 2 countries are
among 14
member states seeking three-year terms on the 47-nation
Human Right Council starting in January 2026. Vietnam, currently a Council
member, is seeking re-election.
“Noncompetitive UN votes permit abusive governments like Egypt and Vietnam to
become Human Rights Council members, threatening to make a mockery of the
Council,” said Louis
Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch. “UN member states should
stop handing Council seats on a silver platter to serial rights violators.”
Egypt, along with Angola, Mauritius,
and South
Africa are running for four African seats. India, Iraq,
and Pakistan are
joining Vietnam for the four Asian seats. For Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile,
and Ecuador are
unopposed for two seats. In the Western group, Italy and
the United
Kingdom are running for two available seats, while Estonia and Slovenia are
candidates for two seats for Central and Eastern Europe.
General Assembly Resolution
60/251, which created the Human Rights Council in 2006, urges states voting
for members to “take into account the contribution of candidates to the
promotion and protection of human rights.” Council members are required to
“uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights”
at home and abroad and to “fully cooperate with the Council.”
Candidates only need a simple majority in the secret-ballot vote in the
193-nation General Assembly to secure a seat on the Human Rights Council. That
makes it highly unlikely that any of the candidates will not be elected.
Nevertheless, UN member states should not cast votes for abusive governments
that are demonstrably unqualified for Council membership.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government has
continued wholesale
repression, systematically detaining and punishing peaceful critics and
activists, and effectively
criminalizing peaceful dissent. Government security forces have committed
serious human rights abuses with near-absolute impunity. These include killing
hundreds of largely peaceful protesters and widespread,
systematic torture of detainees, which most likely amount to crimes against
humanity. The government also tries to prevent
its own citizens from engaging with the Geneva-based Human Rights Council,
and punishes those
who engage with brutal reprisals. It ignores UN experts’ requests to visit the
country.
The ruling Communist
Party of Vietnam maintains a monopoly on political power and allows no
challenge to its leadership. Basic rights are severely restricted, including
freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and religion. Rights
activists and bloggers face police intimidation, harassment, restricted
movement, and arbitrary arrest and detention.
Mauritius and the UK, among the countries running. signed a treaty that
recognizes Mauritius’ sovereignty over the Chagos
islands but fails to address the ongoing crimes against humanity against
Chagossians and their right of return to all the islands. The UK forcibly
displaced the Chagossian people between
1965 and 1973 to allow the US to build a military base. Mauritius and the UK
should comply with their international rights obligations, including Chagossians’
right of return and should provide an effective remedy and reparations.
Angolan President João Lourenço has pledged to protect human rights, though
Angolan security forces have used excessive
force against political activists and peaceful protesters. South
Africa has taken strong stances for accountability on Palestine and
other issues. It should be similarly robust with
rights violations by Russia and China.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in India led by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has refused access to UN experts. Modi’s party leaders and supporters repeatedly
vilify and attack Muslims and Christians with impunity, while the
authorities often punish those who protest this campaign of Hindu
majoritarianism.
Pakistan should cease the use of draconian counterterrorism and sedition laws to
intimidate peaceful critics, and repeal its blasphemy
laws. The government should prosecute those responsible for incitement and
attacks on minorities and marginalized communities.
In 2024, Iraq passed a law criminalizing same-sex
relations and transgender expression. Violence
and discrimination against LGBT people are rampant, for which no one is held
to account. Iraqi authorities have increasingly repressed activists and
journalists.
In Ecuador, the government has attacked judicial independence and security
forces have committed serious human rights violations since President Daniel
Noboa declared an “internal
armed conflict” in January 2024. In Chile, President Gabriel Boric’s
administration has played a leading role in speaking
out on human rights violations around the world. Human rights challenges,
including racism
and abuses against migrants, remain a problem in the country, however.
In the UK,
the authorities should end their crackdown on freedom of assembly. Many
peaceful protesters in
support of Palestinians or action on climate change have been arrested and some
imprisoned after demonstrating. Italy should stop criminalizing
and obstructing sea rescues and enabling Libyan forces to intercept migrants and
refugees and take them back to Libya, where they face arbitrary detention and
grave abuses. Italy also failed
to comply with a 2025 International Criminal Court arrest warrant by sending
a wanted suspect back to Libya instead of to The Hague.
The Human Rights Council has played a crucial role in investigating abuses in Syria, Myanmar, North
Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Israel/Palestine,
and elsewhere. It recently established an investigation into serious crimes in Afghanistan by
all parties—past and present —and extended its fact-finding
mission for Sudan. Other countries and situations need scrutiny. Council
members should press for investigations of abuses by major powers, such as China’s crimes
against humanity against Uyghurs and others in Xinjiang, and
take up extrajudicial
killings by the US of alleged narcotics traffickers on sea vessels.
For Council investigations to be credible, it needs financing. It is critical
for countries to pay their assessed UN dues while boosting voluntary
contributions. This will ensure that independent human rights investigations do
not become casualties of the UN’s financial crisis resulting from the Trump
administration halting
virtually all payments to the UN and China and others paying late.
“The Human Rights Council has been able to save countless lives by carrying out
numerous human rights investigations that deter governments and armed groups
from committing abuses,” Charbonneau said. “All governments should recognize
that it’s in their interests to promptly pay their UN dues so the rights Council
can do its job.”
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on the United Nations, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/topic/united-nations
For more information, please contact:
In New York, Louis Charbonneau (English, German, Czech): +1-646-591-5178
(mobile); or charbol@hrw.org.
X: @loucharbon; BlueSky: @loucharb.bsky.social
In New York, Widad Franco (English, Spanish): +1-929-301-9700 (mobile); or francow@hrw.org.
X: @widadfranco
In Geneva, John Fisher (English, French): +41-22-732-5760; or fisherj@hrw.org.
X: @JohnFisher_hrw
In Geneva, Hilary Power (English): +1-917-227-6823; or powerh@hrw.org.
X: @Hilary_Power_
In Geneva, Lucy McKernan (English):
+41-79-103-7719; or mckernl@hrw.org.