Coming UN human rights council vote another test of US-China rivalry
- Beijing’s critics are pushing for voting countries in Asia to leave their ballots blank
- Washington’s track record, including Congress’s failure to ratify a convention on child rights, hurts its standing
The ideological divide between the US and China in the United Nations, reflecting a broader global competition playing out between the two countries, may widen after a key vote this week.
While Beijing is all but assured of a seat on the United Nations Council on Human Rights at Tuesday’s election, given that the spot is uncontested, Beijing’s detractors are calling on member nations to use the power of silence and leave their ballots blank.
Majority voting by the 193-member UN General Assembly Tuesday is broken out by region and the Asia slate has three candidates for three spots, giving China an easy ride. Critics say UN elections, wherein back room deals frequently trump genuine debate and lofty principles, typifies a sclerotic system.
“It would be better to leave one seat empty and find a suitable candidate later,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director with Human Rights Watch. “We can’t say it’s realistic, but it is possible. It’s basically a rigged election system, but you never know. We have had other surprises.”
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Among those, he said, are Russia’s unexpected 2016 electoral loss for the human rights body, in part over its support for Syria, and China’s narrow win in 2020 that might have gone the other way had there been another candidate.
While human rights groups have touted the “don’t vote” strategy before – which some consider naive – civic organisations say their campaign is more forceful this year.
