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Russia Loses Bid for Council Seat, Accused of Human Rights Abuses

The 15 seats that came up by rotation for election this year to the 47-member Geneva-based Council were distributed according to its regional quotas, although all the 193 UN members vote on them…reports Asian Lite News

Russia lost its bid to regain a seat on the Human Rights Council, failing to get enough votes in elections on Tuesday after having been ousted from it last year.

China and Cuba, however, were elected to the Council by the General Assembly in secret ballots despite their questionable human rights records. Both countries are on the Council with terms ending this year and will serve another three-year term starting next year till 2026 end.

The 15 seats that came up by rotation for election this year to the 47-member Geneva-based Council were distributed according to its regional quotas, although all the 193 UN members vote on them.

There were contests only in the East European and the Latin American and Caribbean groups while the number of contestants matched the vacancies in the Asian and Western groups making their contests only a matter of formality, although reflecting on the popularity of the countries in the race.

Russia polled only 83 votes, the lowest of any country, and lost to Bulgaria which received 160 votes and Albania which got 123 for the two vacancies in the East European Group.

In the Latin American and Caribbean group, Cuba was elected with 146 votes, Brazil with 144, and Dominican Republic with 137. Peru, which polled only 108 votes lost.

China was elected to one of the four vacancies in the Asian group with 154 votes, along with Indonesia that received 186 votes – the highest of any country, Kuwait that polled 183 votes, and Japan that got 175.

In other uncontested elections, the Netherlands and France were elected for the Western Group, and Burundi, Ghana. Malawi and Cote d’Ivoire for the African Group.

After it invaded Ukraine, the General Assembly voted to remove Russia from the Council in April last year.

At that time 93 countries voted to remove it, while 58 countries abstained, and only 24 voted against its removal.

Russia has increased its support to 83, which is only one vote more than those who abstained and those who voted against ouster.

Ahead of Tuesday’s election, Moscow prepared a defence of its defeat when its Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia asserted the US’s “main phobia” is his country’s election to Council and was campaigning against it. He was speaking at Monday’s Security Council meeting on Ukraine, which turned into a campaign spot for the election. US Deputy Permanent Representative Robert Wood said that it would be an “ugly stain” on the UN if Russia was elected while Albania’s Permanent Representative Ferit Hoxa urged against voting for Moscow as a matter of credibility.

China’s election was not controversial as it had the unanimous support of the Asia Group and no one opposed it. India was re-elected to the Council in 2021 after completing a three-year term, but when its tenure ends next year. it is barred by Council rules against serving more than two consecutive terms.

Pakistan completes its term at the end of this year and could not run for re-election because it is serving its second consecutive term, having been elected in 2017 and 2020. Nepal will be ending its term on the Council at the end of this year and Bangladesh in 2025.

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Gilgit-Baltistan in turmoil as Pakistan denies basic human rights

The land-grabbing issue in the region is not news. But since last year, the Pakistan government is hell-bent on changing up the demography of the region, only this time outright publicly…reports Asian Lite News

While Muslim nations around the world were practising Zakat (charity to the needy) and multiplying their acts of kindness, Pakistan has vowed to make it impossible to allow its citizens to breathe. Especially the ones that stand up against the oppression of the ruling institutions, The International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS) reported.

Gilgit-Baltistan is standing on turbulent grounds facing neglect from Pakistan, while CPEC (China) is creating in-roads snatching people’s livelihood starting at the bottom of the pyramid. Over the last few months, a social uprising demanding unity with India has further sparked issues with the government. The civil society of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) is carrying out demonstrations every day to seek economic and political rights for the local people who are deprived of their basic human rights.

The protesters are seeking ordinary demands like employment, electricity, wheat, education, basically a life above destitution which Pakistan has been unable to deliver since the region was illegally captured by them in October 1947.

Now the government is trying to add a political angle to the issue because the residents have moved to criticize state policies regarding CPEC and Chinese workers, IFFRAS reported.

A fresh set of protests started in December 2022 after government bodies started crushing the movement using extreme force. This was met with equal rebellion on the part of people who are exhausted with Pakistan’s laid-back attitude when it comes to them.

Today they claim that Pakistan separated them from the freedom they enjoyed in Jammu & Kashmir to lock them up forever in a prison. The illegal occupation was not heroic, but just a political move to enjoy control of some of the world’s finest mineral and water resources. It was an act purely out of need, not sentiment for the Kashmiris.

The land-grabbing issue in the region is not news. But since last year, the Pakistan government is hell-bent on changing up the demography of the region, only this time outright publicly.

Procuring land in GB is hard due to the obligations emerging from the UN Security Council Resolution on Kashmir and some guarantees given to GB people by the state of Pakistan. Under the guise of developmental works, Pakistan slowly made its way into the region and invited China for a permanent stay, IFFRAS reported.

According to law, the land can only be used for the construction of military infrastructure. But the government has been using local politicians and goons for the procurement of land for the National Highway Authority and for the re-designing of the Karakorum highway.

Pakistan’s business giants have also taken over the tourism sector which served as the main source of income for locals. Businesses buy land in the name of locals and construct huge hotels and infrastructure that cannot be matched with the humble offerings of the GB residents.

These outsmarting tactics of the government and businessmen are not going well with people. There is a rumour that the government intends to construct residential accommodations for ex-servicemen from mainland Pakistan.

This has further fueled the sentiments of the locals who have accused Pakistan of diluting the demographics of GB by attempting incursion in their areas, IFFRAS reported.

Another huge woe is that of electricity. GB is the largest producer of electricity but its hydropower plants deliver to everyone in the nation besides them. The locals have alleged the government of stealing their assets and resources. This winter the federal government cut the power supply of GB for almost 20 hours a day.

In peak winters GB was relying on burning scrap to keep their houses warm. Later the government even increased the prices of electricity.

Chinese workers shroud all the major projects and even receive cuts while the locals, the actual land owners live in misery. People from Punjab and other provinces make quick debuts performing sub-standard work, earning interim dividends, and then running off home leaving GB’s population floating on incomplete projects, health hazards such as open mines, and so on.

In other words, Pakistan won’t let GB function on its own, nor will it develop the region, unless it’s for their personal gain. Pakistan has crossed all limits and tested the patience of the GB natives for more than seven decades. Their oppression has been tolerated for far too long, the report noted. (ANI)

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