The following states were elected to three year terms in 2007:
                                   

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Standards Upheld by UN General Assembly on Human Rights Council Elections

The Democracy Coalition Project welcomed the defeat of Belarus in today’s UN General Assembly election of 14 members of the UN Human Rights Council as an important precedent for upholding basic standards for human rights. Belarus, a highly controversial candidate opposed by Belarusian human rights defenders as well as the Democracy Coalition Project (DCP) and an international coalition of over 40 groups for its appalling human rights record, was defeated by Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in a hotly contested race for the two seats from Eastern Europe.

"Today’s result sends a clear message to Belarus that it must substantially improve its human rights record if it is to be considered a worthy candidate for Council membership in the future. It also is a testament to our collective work over the past two years to hold governments accountable to basic international human rights standards they themselves have adopted. We hope all governments, including the government in Minsk, will view this process as a force for change and progress on human rights both globally and nationally,” said Ted Piccone, Executive Director of the Democracy Coalition Project.

Read full statement here.

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DCP joins six major human rights organizations in an appeal to UN member states on the UN Human Rights Council elections

On May 3, 2007 the Democracy Coalition Project and six other human rights organizations sent a joint letter to all UN member states calling on them to ensure a competitive election process for the UN Human Rights Council. The appeal stated that "we are extremely concerned to note that, with one exception, members of the General Assembly will not be able to choose amongst competing declared candidates on a comparative basis, since four out of five electoral regions had only the number of candidates declared as seats available for those regions." The NGOs called on states to reject selection on the basis of rotation or reciprocal vote trading agreements and to be guided by a comparative assessment of human rights records and pledges intended by resolution 60/251. It further called on states to honor membership standards of the Council by withholding votes from an unqualified candidate, even by casting a blank ballot, if necessary. Other signatories of the letter were Amensty International, Human Rights Watch, the Carter Center, Institute for Global Policy, the International Service for Human Rights, the Open Society Institute, and the World Federation of United Nations Association.

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Forty-six NGOs from around the world call on UN member states to defeat Belarus in Human Rights Council elections

The Democracy Coalition Project has joined civil society organizations from every region of the world to urge UN member states to defeat Belarus in the upcoming UN Human Rights Council elections on May 17. The groups argue that Belarus fails to meet the standards of membership set by Resolution 60/251 establishing the Council, including the requirements to 1) "fully cooperate with the Council," and 2) "uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights." The groups remind states that according to the resolution, "member States shall take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto" when electing new members. They further write "election of Belarus to the Council would render these standards meaningless, and severely damage the Council's credibility." No country can be elected to the Human Rights Council unless an absolute majority of the UN General Assembly--97 members--affirmatively writes in the name of the that candidate on the ballot.


Read joint letter sent to UN member states.

More information on the campaign to defeat Belarus.