Over the years, non-governmental organisations have expressed concern over the lack of competition in several regional groups of UN member states for the Human Rights Council elections. APC and others in civil society have urged member states to present competitive slates, and to follow the practice of announcing their candidacies by the High-Level Segment of every year’s March session of the Council, at the latest, to allow for meaningful campaigning and engagement.
APC has joined with over 30 other civil society organisations to send letters to member states of each of the five regional groups – the Africa Group, the Asia-Pacific Group, the Eastern European Group, the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), and the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) – urging them to ensure competitive slates of candidates and to further deepen the level of competition in the 2022 Human Rights Council elections. The letters note that while an electoral slate with one more candidate than available seats offers a level of competition, it is a bare minimum.
The letters additionally note that each year, civil society organises pledging events that take place for candidate states in early September. The pledging events provide a critical opportunity for member states and civil society to directly and constructively engage with candidate states for the Human Rights Council, with the aim of enhancing transparency and accountability in Council elections and improving adherence to Council membership standards. For these reasons, the signatories encourage all candidate states running for election to participate in the events.
Read the letter sent to the Africa Group member states (in English, French and Spanish) here.
Read the letter sent to the Asia-Pacific Group member states (in English, French and Spanish) here.
Read the letter sent to the Eastern European Group member states (in English, French and Spanish) here.
Read the letter sent to the GRULAC member states (in English, French and Spanish) here.
Read the letter sent to the WEOG member states (in English, French and Spanish) here.