Morocco was elected, Wednesday, January 10 in Geneva, to the Presidency of the UN Human Rights Council, ahead of South Africa for this rotating presidency returning to the African continent in 2024.
Per the rules of procedure, the candidate obtaining the greatest number of votes and the majority of members present and voting was declared elected President of the Human Rights Council.
Following a secret ballot in which the 47 members of the Geneva-based intergovernmental human rights body voted, Ambassador Omar Zniber was elected with 30 votes to 17 for his opponent, Ambassador Mxolisi Nkosi, Permanent Representative of South Africa.
Ambassador Zniber said he took his appointment above all as a duty to work to “meet the requirements of our common work which is so important and so fundamental: that of the promotion, respect, and guarantee of human rights as universally recognized. “.
Omar Zniber (left), Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations in Geneva, speaks at the opening of the 54th session of the Human Rights Council.
UN Photo/Jean Marc Ferré
Omar Zniber (à gauche), Représentant permanent du Maroc auprès des Nations unies à Genève, s’exprime lors de l’ouverture de la 54e session du Conseil des droits de l’homme.
He is the 4th African ambassador to lead the Council
“It is both for the Kingdom of Morocco and for me an honor to have been elected at the head of our august Council for this 18th cycle, a position belonging to Africa,” declared after being elected, the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Ambassador Zniber, whose presidency takes effect immediately, joins Ambassador Febrian Ruddyard of Indonesia; Ambassador Darius Staniulis of Lithuania; Ambassador Marcelo Eliseo Scappini Ricciard of Paraguay, and Ambassador Heidi Schroderus-Fox of Finland, who were elected on December 8, 2023, vice-presidents of the Council, to serve on the Bureau of the Council for the current year.
Since the first presidency of Mexican Luis Alfonso de Alba in 2006, he is the 18th president of this UN body based in Geneva. Ambassador Omar Zniber is also the 4th African diplomat to head the Human Rights Council.
The three previous African presidents are the Nigerian Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi (June 2008-June 2009), the Gabonese Baudelaire Ndong Ella (2014), and the current Ambassador of Senegal, Coly Seck, who chaired the Council in 2019.
