Saudi Arabia narrowly failed this week to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, a blow to Riyadh’s efforts to boost the country’s rights reputation abroad. It comes four years after Saudi Arabia was rejected in a 2020 bid to join the 47-member body.
Members of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council (HRC) are elected by the 193-member United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York in a secret ballot in geographical groups to ensure even representation.
This week, 19 countries vied for 18 spots – allocated according to the UN’s five regional groups. Only the Asia-Pacific group had a modicum of competition: six candidates – Cyprus, Marshall Islands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand – competed for five seats. The Marshall Islands came in fifth with 124 votes, seven more than Saudi Arabia.
The other slates had no competition, meaning that all candidates were virtually assured of winning seats. In Africa, the candidates were Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Gambia and Kenya.
Despite opposition from civil society and political groups, the DRC’s election was virtually unopposed, with the country securing 172 out of 190 votes during the assembly.
Human Rights Watch and opposition parties had urged against Kinshasa’s election, citing concerns over political repression, arbitrary detentions, and killings. However, the DRC’s human rights minister stated that the country would use the position to improve its domestic human rights situation. Criticisms were also levelled again Ethiopia and Kenya.
For Latin America and the Caribbean, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico were elected. For the Western group, Iceland, Spain and Switzerland won the three spots. For Central and Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic and North Macedonia took the two available seats.
“The near total lack of competition in this year’s Human Rights Council vote makes a mockery of the word ‘election’ and greases the path to a seat for nearly all candidates, deserving or not,” said Louis Charbonneau, United Nations director at Human Rights Watch.
“Council members concerned about human rights should use their three-year terms to support scrutiny of all countries whose rights records warrant it, whether they’re on or off the council,” he said.
Established in 2006 to replace a human rights commission discredited because of some members’ poor rights records, the new HRC soon faced similar criticism, including that countries sought seats to protect themselves and their allies.
The council is responsible for promoting and protecting human rights globally, as well as addressing violations. 25 of the 47 Council members have appointed a Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Focal Point and/or joined the Group of Friends of R2P in New York and Geneva during 2025 and will be “Friends of the Responsibility to Protect”. The R2P refers to protecting populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, which have emerged as important global principles since the adoption of the UN World Summit Outcome Document in 2005.
The newly elected members will serve a three-year term from 1 January 2025-2027. They cannot serve more than two consecutive terms.
While it does not have legally binding powers, HRC meetings raise scrutiny and can mandate investigations to document abuses, which sometimes form the basis for war crimes prosecutions.
Riyadh’s application drew many eyebrows. Critics complained that had it been elected to the council, that would undermine calls for justice against the Kingdom and would feel like a “slap in the face” to, they claim, the many victims of the Saudi regime. Critics accuse Riyadh of crimes against humanity related to the killing of hundreds of Ethiopians by Saudi border guards as they sought to cross from Yemen in 2022-23. In letter sent last year by Saudi Arabia’s mission to the UN in Geneva said that it “categorically refutes” allegations that the Kingdom carries out any “systematic” killings on the border.
Critics also claim that the Saudi government has still not accounted for the 2018 murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. However, Riyadh maintains that Khashoggi’s killing was carried out by a rogue group.
Riyadh was chosen in March to chair a UN commission aimed at promoting gender equality and empowering women around the world.
Saudi Arabia is spending billions to transform its global image from a country known for strict religious restrictions and human rights abuses into a tourism and entertainment hub under a plan its Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman launched, known as Vision 2030.
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