Maldives tops the World; Historic first as country takes its place on UN Human Rights Council

The Maldives today secured a seat on the Human Rights Council, the principal UN intergovernmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights and, alongside the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the UN system’s three Councils. This is the first time that the Maldives has run for and secured membership of one of the main organs of the UN. Speaking after the vote in New York, Foreign Minister H.E. Dr. Ahmed Shaheed said: “This is a proud day for the Maldives; it is the culmination of our voyage from the international political wilderness to the centre stage. Only five years ago we were a human rights pariah, today our bid to secure a Council seat has won almost universal support from UN Member States. What is more, our success comes with the endorsement of international human rights NGOs which have identified the Maldives as one of only five candidates to have a human rights record worthy of a place on the Council”.

The Human Rights Council has its seat at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the United Nations’ main centre of activity. The Council has a mandate to: promote universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all; address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations; and promote the effective coordination and the mainstreaming of human rights within the UN system. The Council’s 47 Member States are elected for three-year terms by an absolute majority of the General Assembly in New York in a secret ballot. The members are regionally allocated with a third of them being elected each year.

For the past year, the Maldives has been competing with Malaysia, Thailand, Qatar, and Iran for one of four seats allocated to the Asian Group for the term 2010-2013. Two weeks ago, after it became clear that the Maldives and others had secured strong cross-regional support, Iran dropped out of the race. In today’s vote, the Maldives came [top, second] in the Asian ballot, securing 185 votes. This was the highest of any State from any region in the election. This strong support for the Maldives amongst UN Member States was mirrored by support from international human rights groups and NGOs. For example, a joint report by UN Watch and Freedom House containing an expert evaluation of candidates to the Human Rights Council concluded that of 14 candidate countries from all regional groups, only five (Maldives, Guatemala, Spain, Switzerland and Poland) have human rights records that merit Council membership.

Commenting on today’s events, Minister Shaheed said: “I am delighted that the Maldives has, for the first time in our history, won a seat on one of the main UN intergovernmental bodies – the Human Rights Council. What is more we have done so on merit – today the world’s governments and human rights NGOs have joined together to recognise and endorse the enormous strides that the Maldives has taken in the realm of human rights”.

“Today’s vote comes as the result of the hard work of many people in the Maldives and in our overseas missions, and from inside and outside government. We are determined to use our membership to stand up for human rights at home and aboard. A belief in and commitment to the central importance of human rights in society has helped transform the Maldives over recent years; we will now bring that belief and commitment to our work in the Council”.