Nepal has been re-elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in the elections held at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal announced.
“Currently serving as a member of the Council since January 2018, Nepal has been re-elected with 150 votes and will serve a consecutive three-year term of 2021-2023,” a release from the Ministry stated.
Upon conclusion of the elections, Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Amrit Bahadur Rai termed Nepal’s re-election as the “international community’s acknowledgment of our progressive journey on political and human rights fronts.”
“It is also recognition of Nepal’s efforts in the protection and promotion of human rights both at home and across the globe, including through our peacekeepers,” Rai said. “Nepal would continue to contribute to the work of the Council in promoting an apolitical and impartial approach to human rights through a unique perspective of a land-locked and least developed country striving for socio-economic transformation,” he added.
Expressing gratitude to the UN Member States for their trust and confidence in Nepal’s ability to serve as their elected member in the Council, Rai stressed that Nepal will continue to strive, with a sense of great responsibility, to promote the values of justice, peace and progress for all, and to put human rights needs at the heart of the most vulnerable groups of people.
Established in 2006 by the UN General Assembly as the main human rights body of the United Nations, the Human Rights Council is made up of 47 elected Member States.
The seats of the Council shall be distributed, on the basis of equal geographical distribution, to five regional groups as follows: the African States, 13 seats; the Asian-Pacific States, 13 seats; the Eastern European States, 6 seats; the Latin American and Caribbean States, 8 seats; and the Western European and other States, 7 seats.
(ANI)