18 New Member States at the Human Rights Council

The elected countries are: Belgium, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Kirgizstan, Mongolia, Panama, the Philippines, South Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Togo, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, who will all be serving 3 years as Human Rights Council member states, beginning 1 January 2016.

The 18 out-going countries are: Argentina, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Slovenia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kirgizstan, Kenya, Montenegro, Pakistan, South Korea, Sierra Leon, UAE, United States of America, and Venezuela. According to UN General Assembly Resolution 251/40 countries can be re-elected back into the Council such as (Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Germany, South Korea and the UAE) which are reelected in the recent elections. The United States was not eligible to get elected again, because it already served two consecutive terms, The Human Rights Council has 47 members which are from five geographical groups. Each of these groups is allocated a number of seats in the Council. There are 13 seats for Africa, 13 for Asia, 4 to Eastern Europe, 8 to Latin America and the Caribbean, and 7 to Western Europe and other countries. The members are elected through secret ballots of the UN General Assembly. This procedure has been mentioned in regulation 92 of the General Assembly Rules of Procedures. Countries must receive two thirds of the votes of General Assembly (from a total of 193 votes) in order to be elected as a member.