China was one of 15 members elected to the UN Human Rights Council by secret ballot Tuesday morning, granting it a second term despite deep and well-documented concerns over its human rights record, while Russia failed to garner enough votes to return to the body.
China received 154 votes on Tuesday, 57 more than were required. The last time it was elected, in 2020, its crackdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement was fresh in the world's memory, and reports of human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region were coming to a head. That year it received 139 votes—41 fewer than in the previous vote in 2016.
The world's second-largest economy was virtually guaranteed a seat on the council Tuesday because of a lack of challengers to jostle for the open spot on the slate of Asia-Pacific countries. Still, human rights groups and an international group of parliamentarians were determined to deal Beijing a symbolic blow by chipping away at its vote count.
"Today, China will again be elected a member of the HRC. The only question is: how many votes in favor," wrote Reinhard Bütikofer, a German MEP in the European Parliament and member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, ahead of the vote.
That China received more votes than in 2020 does not signify more support, though.
"It highlights the vital importance of competitive states in UN elections," UN director of Human Rights Watch Louis Charbonneau told Newsweek.
He pointed out China's tally still came in last behind Indonesia's 186, Kuwait's 183, and Japan's 175. If there had been more competition, "China would have lost. And that's what should have happened," Charbonneau said.
Membership in the 47-member Human Rights Council is distributed equitably according to population distribution: 13 each from Africa and the Asia-Pacific, eight from Latin America and the Caribbean, six from Eastern Europe, and seven from "Western European and other states." Members are elected by a simple majority and can serve up to two consecutive three-year terms.
"As a Uyghur who has witnessed decades of suffering, and particularly the harrowing nightmare of the ongoing genocide over the last six years, I firmly believe that a regime implicated in genocide and grave crimes against humanity has no place on the UN Human Rights Council," World Uyghur Congress UK Director Rahima Mahmut told Newsweek.
China has imprisoned some 1 million Uyghurs in internment camps in Xinjiang, which Beijing has called education camps. At least 100,000 members of the Turkic ethnic group have been the victims of forced labor. An independent tribunal headed by veteran prosecutor Sir Geoffrey Nice in 2021 determined the Chinese government was guilty of genocide through its systematic forced birth control and mass sterilization campaigns in the western Chinese region.
"I thank all friends and colleagues for who have supported China in the election for your trust and confidence," Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun wrote on X, formerly Twitter, following the vote.
An hour later, he reposted a tweet highlighting a recent state-guided tour of Xinjiang for a group of foreign journalists and featuring a photo of Uyghurs in bright traditional attire dancing joyfully.
The administration of President Joe Biden has accused China of seeking to reshape the Xinjiang narrative with a disinformation campaign. The White House has sanctioned Chinese officials and entities believed to be involved in abuses, which also resulted in a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
In September, UN experts expressed deep concern over the Chinese government's widespread practice of separating Uyghur children from their parents and putting them in full-time boarding schools, where they are reportedly subjected to forced assimilation.
Last year, outgoing UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet published a report advising countries not to repatriate Uyghurs or members of other Muslim minorities to China, where they face likely persecution.
Russia fell short with only 83 out of the required 97 votes on Tuesday. It was booted from the Human Rights Council in 2022 over alleged war crimes as it prosecutes its war against Ukraine, becoming only the second member state in UN history to be ejected from the council.
Update 10/11/23, 6:18 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from UN director of Human Rights Watch Louis Charbonneau and further information.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian ... Read more
