Afghanistan, South Korea, Venezuela lose bids for UNHCR seats

Afghanistan, South Korea and Venezuela lost their bids on Tuesday to serve three-year terms on the UN Human Rights Council.

With nearly all the 193-member states voting in the General Assembly, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Morocco, Romania, South Africa, Sudan, and Vietnam were voted onto the 47-member Geneva-based rights body.

Afghanistan lost its bid to join the council, receiving just 12 votes.

Since the takeover by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), the country’s UN seat is still in the hands of the previous government, largely because no country has officially recognized the IEA leadership.