As a coalition of human rights nongovernmental organizations from around the world, we urge UN members to only elect states to the council that meet basic human rights criteria. This year, the complete absence of competition for the available seats deprives UN member states of the opportunity to select the best candidates.

However, each candidate still needs 97 affirmative votes (a majority of UN members) to be elected, meaning that even states running on “clean slates” are not assured of election. States should cast their votes only for those candidates that will commit to the human rights standards expected of council members.

On that basis we have chosen to highlight Angola, Libya, Malaysia, Thailand, and Uganda, and urge UN member states to seek specific human rights improvements from these states before deciding whether to vote to elect them to the council:

Widely criticized for the following abuses, Iran withdrew its candidacy for the council on April 23, 2010. International pressure on Iran to withdraw in advance of the actual vote was strengthened by the competition for the available seats from the Asia regional group, demonstrating the importance of competitive elections for the council.