HRC 55 Draft Statement Item 10

HRC Membership Contact Group

3 April 2024

Thank you Mr President,

This statement is on behalf of the contact group on Council membership. The list of members will be made public on the extranet.

We believe that membership of the Human Rights Council should reflect the diversity of the UN as a whole, and that all countries, irrespective of their size, wealth or power should have an equal opportunity to serve as members of the Council.

Since 2017 the number of States that have never held a seat on the Council has fallen from 95 to 69 today.

While this is important progress, at the most recent Council election, only one country was elected that had not been a member before. So more work clearly remains to be done to broaden the Council’s membership to other states.

Most of the countries that have never been members of the Council are small States, especially Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

We have seen from recent years that Small States often offer new perspectives and strengthen the Council’s universality. Indeed, LDCs and SIDs have made significant contributions to the Council through leading resolutions on important new topics, by serving as members of the Bureau and even by being elected as Council President. We therefore express our firm support for the important work of the LDCs/SIDs voluntary trust fund in supporting greater participation at the HRC. We hope that this will build capacity to allow a greater number of states to stand for membership.

As GA resolution 60/251 that established this Council makes clear, membership of the Council comes with responsibility. All States must respect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, and members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights and fully cooperate with the Council.

Our contact group encourages States with a demonstrable commitment to human rights and democracy, especially Small States, to strengthen their participation and engagement with the body and its mechanisms and, eventually, to consider standing for election. We are ready to engage with such states and to support them in this endeavour.

Thank you