Pakistan no longer wanted on UN Human Rights council

One way which Churches and Christian groups can contribute to the work of the BPCA (Click here)

‘Common sense prevailed’ say humanitarians as the 193-member UN General Assembly voted against the re-election of Pakistan onto the United
Nations Human Rights Council at a General Assembly in Geneva October 30th 2015.

Pakistan was included in a 47 seat panel for which their term was due to expire on 31st December 2015, and reports suggest they remained
confident of re-election and retaining their seat in the Asia-Pacific category.

.

Despite numerous campaigns by human rights bodies in opposition to the re-election of Venezuela, Pakistan and the UAE to the UN Human Rights
Council due to widespread criticism of these governments for egregious human rights violation, the failure is said to have shocked the
Pakistani delegates.

The new members, who were elected by secret ballot and will start their three-year terms beginning January 1st next year, are Belgium,
Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Panama, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Slovenia,
Switzerland, Togo, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the BPCA, said:

“UN delegates at the General Assembly have made the right decision by essentially expelling Pakistan from this crucial human rights vehicle. Pakistan and other former members have notably voted against UN resolutions in numerous hotspots, preventing action against proven human rights abuses. Moreover, the poor human rights record in juxtaposition to their ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should result in an automatic prohibition for such a role, until real change is seen within the freedoms of their own citizens.”