Member from same region to fill US seat in HR Council: UN
United Nations, June 21 : The seat in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) vacated by the US will be filled by a member from the same regional group. A spokesman for Miroslav Lajcak, President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), announced this on Wednesday.
The General Assembly resolution that established the Human Rights Council in 2006 does not contain any reference to possible withdrawal by members from the council, said Brenden Varma, the spokesman.
But the resolution provides for geographic distribution of the 47 members of the council, he said. Therefore, the vacancy left by the US will have to be filled through election in the General Assembly of a candidate from the Western European and others group, he said.
As the US is the first member to withdraw from the Human Rights Council, there is no past practice in terms of procedures for withdrawal or for replacement, said Varma. "Now we are looking into possible next steps."
But as the first step, he said, the General Assembly is waiting for the official notification of the US on its withdrawal.
On reports of Russia putting itself forward for candidature, Varma said the country does not qualify as it was not from the concerned regional group.
Notification of candidature would normally go to the UN Secretariat before the General Assembly President can decide on an election. There is no timeframe for such an election, said Varma.
It remains unclear where a replacement will be determined as the current session of the General Assembly is wrapping up its business.
The members of the UN Human Rights Council are elected each year in the General Assembly for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The US was in the middle of its 2016-19 term when it announced its withdrawal on Tuesday.
Lajcak regretted the US withdrawal.
"The President of the General Assembly, Miroslav Lajcak, regrets the decision of the US to withdraw from the Human Rights Council," Varma said in a statement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also regretted the US decision.
"The secretary-general would have much preferred for the US to remain in the Human Rights Council. The UN's Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide," said a spokesman for Guterres.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
