Chinese ambassador pledges support as Fiji’s candidate wins presidency of UN human rights council

Nazahat Shameen Khan, a British-educated former high court judge, wins 29 votes in unprecedented ballot, beating challengers from Bahrain and Uzbekistan

Chinese ambassador Chen Xu offers congratulations despite observers saying Beijing backed losing candidates

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Fiji’s Nazahat Shameen Khan has been elected president of the UN Human Rights Council. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:23pm, 16 Jan 2021Updated: 11:32pm, 16 Jan 2021

Fiji, the favourite of Western nations, won the presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday, beating Bahrain and Uzbekistan in a ballot that resolved a tense deadlock over the selection.

The vote was called after an impasse that meant the council, the only intergovernmental global body to promote and protect human rights, began meetings this week leaderless for the first time in its 15-year history.

The presidency rotates geographically with each region typically making a selection by consensus but members of the Asia-Pacific group could not agree, forcing the first-ever ballot in the council.

The UN council is the only intergovernmental global body to promote and protect human rights. Photo: Reuters

Fiji’s Nazahat Shameen Khan, a British-educated former high court judge, won with 29 votes versus 14 for Bahrain and four for Uzbekistan, vice-president Ali Ibn Abi Talib Abdelrahman Mahmoud told a nearly empty UN chamber where delegates voted one-by-one due to Covid-19 measures.

The deadlock over the presidency came at the start of a year that is widely expected to see the United States rejoin after quitting the forum in 2018, and with a review of the council’s activities expected to begin.