Govt’s Term on U.N. Body Ends

24 May 2011

ZAMBIA has ended its term on the United Nations Human Rights Council following the election of 15 new member states at the UN General Assembly.

The country was among the outgoing members of the Human Rights Council and was not eligible for immediate election after two consecutive terms.

This was according to a statement released yesterday by first secretary for Press in the office of the Zambian permanent representative to the UN, Moses Walubita.

Mr Walubita said the UN General Assembly elected the 15 states to serve on the Human Rights Council for three-year terms starting on June 19, after a single round of secret balloting.

The states elected following the nomination by their respective regional groups were Austria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Kuwait, India, Indonesia, Italy, Philippines, Peru and Romania.

“The 47-member council which was established by General Assembly resolution 60/251 in May 2006 is the principal United Nations body dealing with human rights,” he said.

Mr Walubita said the elected member states pledged to uphold the highest standards in the protection of human rights.

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