The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on Wednesday, October 9, failed to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) for membership in the 2025-27 term.
This is the Kingdom’s second election failure since attempting to join the 47-member council in 2020.
The 193-member UN General Assembly in New York elects the members of the Geneva-based HRC through secret ballots, ensuring equal representation across geographical regions.
On Wednesday, HRC elected 18 new members from 19 candidates who competed on five regional slates.
Six candidates from the Asia-Pacific slate competed for five seats, with Saudi Arabia ranking sixth with 117 votes, behind the Marshall Islands, Republic of Korea, Cyprus, Qatar, and Thailand, AFP reported.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Iceland, Spain and Switzerland were elected to the Council.
Benin, Gambia, and Qatar were re-elected for a second three-year term, and Council members can only serve two consecutive terms.
Wednesday’s vote came as Reprieve, an anti-execution group, reported that Saudi Arabia has executed at least 212 people this year, surpassing its previous record of 196 in 2022 and 172 in 2023.
