United Nations.- The UN General Assembly approved this Friday to renew the mandate of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Austrian Volker Türk, for another four years despite opposition from countries such as Russia or the United States.
The vote on the proposal, backed by Secretary-General António Guterres, received 144 votes in favor, 10 against, and 13 abstentions.
Türk’s mandate—who has been in office since October 2022 after succeeding the Chilean Michelle Bachelet, now a candidate to lead the UN—will be automatically renewed on October 12, until the 11th of that month in the year 2030.
Questioning Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Austrian, who in recent years has criticized countries such as Russia and Israel over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, had been facing increasing opposition for weeks, especially from the U.S.
In fact, before the vote on its renewal, the General Assembly submitted two proposals for consultation, one from the U.S. and one from Russia, which sought to block its reelection.
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The American one, which proposed delaying the vote by a week, obtained 27 votes in favor, 63 against, and 47 abstentions.
For its part, the Russian one, which proposed renewing Türk’s mandate only until the end of the year, garnered 19 votes in favor, 71 against, and 52 abstentions.
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In all three proposals, Russia, the United States, Israel, and Iran, the protagonists of the most recent conflicts, voted against the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Although he has not accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, as other voices in the organization have done, Türk has pointed out that the actions of the Israeli Army “could constitute genocide” or point to “ethnic cleansing.”
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The other proposals
In addition, their office is in charge of documenting the “violations of international humanitarian law” by Russian forces in Ukraine.
The Austrian has also demanded on several occasions the immediate release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas and has denounced the Ukrainian bombings against Russian territory.
Following his reelection, Human Rights Watch asked him to “clearly and unequivocally condemn human rights violations wherever they occur.”
“Attacks on human rights around the world demand a UN High Commissioner who will fearlessly stand up to attempts by powerful countries like China, Russia, and the United States to undermine and defund UN bodies that protect human rights,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at HRW, in a statement.
