By acclamation, the 54-nation council elected Algeria’s Amar Bendjamav to a one-year term.

BREAKING: 🇩🇿 Algeria's authoritarian regime has just been elected by acclamation to become President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the primary UN organ overseeing human rights commissions.

“I hear no objection.” Room breaks out into long applause. pic.twitter.com/pTZeIWUIag

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) July 23, 2026

“Handing the gavel of a key UN human rights body to a regime that jails journalists, tortures dissidents, and outlaws its own human rights groups sends absolutely the wrong message to human rights victims worldwide,” said Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch.

Neuer called on UN chief Antonio Guterres and rights chief Volker Türk to condemn the election, citing Algeria’s human rights violations.

Algeria’s Record of Repression

Algeria is rated by Freedom House in 2025 as “Not Free,” with a score of 31/100 on civil liberties and political rights. It has recently escalated a crackdown on fundamental freedoms.

On July 7, 2026, Algerian authorities arrested journalist Mourad At-Mimou over social media posts critical of Algeria’s July 2 parliamentary elections, which had record-low voter turnout after the government barred nearly a third of prospective candidates. Mimou’s arrest follows a well-established pattern of journalist arrests to suppress freedom of speech and political dissent, with three other journalists, Hassan Bouras, Omar Ferhat, and Abdelali Mezghiche, also imprisoned in 2026.

According to the U.S. State Department’s 2024 report, security forces routinely detain people for participating in unauthorized protests or publicly criticizing the government, often holding them for hours before releasing them without charge. Human rights groups have documented at least 250 arbitrary detentions in 2024 alone of individuals merely for expressing their opinions.

Algerian government officials also use torture against detainees. Trade unionist Ali Mammeri, who was held incommunicado for several days after his March 2025 arrest over social media posts supporting imprisoned activists, said he was tortured during interrogation. In February 2026, a court upheld his conviction and 10-year prison sentence.

Algerian authorities have targeted civil society groups that criticize the government’s human rights violations. On June 29, 2022, an Algerian administrative court dissolved the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, the country’s oldest independent human rights organization.

This pattern of repression has continued. In March 2026, authorities forcibly closed SOS Disparus, which advocates for families of dissidents and journalists forcibly disappeared.

As ECOSOC president, the regime that silences rights groups and dissidents at home now gets to preside over the body that determines their access to the world stage.

The post UN Elects Algeria President of Key Body Overseeing Human Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

Abuses by those candidates are detailed in a new joint NGO report published today by UN Watch, Human Rights Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, which is being circulated to UN diplomats.

The report will be launched today at a press conference next to the United Nations in New York, one week before the General Assembly votes on October 11th,  featuring human rights activists and experts, including Rodrigo Diamanti on Venezuela, Mutasim Ali on Sudan, Zineb Riboua on Algeria, and Dan Hoang on Vietnam.

Because there is no competition in the African regional group, with four candidates for four available seats, Algeria and Sudan, both rated as “Not Free” by Freedom House, are almost guaranteed to win, unless member states make the exceptional move of refusing to endorse candidates running on a clean slate.

There is competition in the Latin American group, with Chile, Costa Rica and Venezuela vying for two available seats. Venezuela is a current member and is running for re-election.

“Electing Venezuela’s Maduro regime once again as a UN judge on human rights, at a time when its top leaders are accused of ordering torture and other atrocities, would be a slap in the face to millions of Venezuelans suffering from human rights abuses, as well as to millions more who were forced to flee the failed state,” said Hillel Neuer of the Geneva-based UN Watch.

Irwin Cotler, head of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, and former Canadian minister of justice, added: “Regrettably, when the UN itself ends up electing human rights violators to the Human Rights Council, it indulges the very of culture of impunity it is supposed to combat. The world’s democracies must join in the preservation and protection of the Council’s mandate, and not end up accomplices to its breach.”

Despite the lack of competition in each regional group, Neuer emphasized that there is a myth among UN diplomats that they are obliged to vote for all candidates on a clean slate.

“As made clear in our report, voting nations can and should refrain from electing rights abusers to the UN’s highest human rights body. We need to hear the US and EU member states lead the call to oppose the worst abusers. So far, at least in the public arena, they have been silent.”

The report also listed Bahrain, Bangladesh, Georgia, Maldives, Morocco and South Africa  as having “questionable” credentials, due to problematic human rights and UN voting records that should be improved.

“Sadly, all signs are that the UN will disregard its own rules and principles on October 11th by rubber-stamping the election of Algeria and Sudan — even though these regimes systematically violate the human rights of their own citizens,” said Neuer, “and consistently frustrate UN initiatives to protect the human rights of others.”

“We hope that at least for the Latin American race, we will see countries reject Venezuela’s absurd candidacy.”

Currently, two thirds of the UNHRC members are non-democracies, including China, Libya, Qatar, Cuba, Eritrea, Khazakhstan and Venezuela.

UN Watch is proposing a major reform to the election system. “If our own democracies continue to disregard the election criteria by voting for abusers,” said Neuer, “then we should just scrap elections altogether, and make every country a member, as is the case in the General Assembly’s human rights committee. Non-democracies could no longer hold up their UNHRC election as a shield of international legitimacy to cover up the abuses of their regime.”

“Regrettably,” said Neuer, “the EU has not said a word about hypocritical candidacies that only undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the UN human rights system. By turning a blind eye as human rights violators easily join and subvert the council, leading democracies will be complicit in the world body’s moral decline.”

“It will be an insult to their political prisoners and many other victims — and a defeat for the global cause of human rights — if the UN helps gross abusers act as champions and global judges of human rights. When the UN’s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world’s victims suffer,” said Neuer.

Why in tomorrow's elections the United Nations should NOT elect #Venezuela's Maduro regime—which commits widespread atrocities against its own people, causing 5 million to flee—to the UN Human Rights Council. @RDiamanti at our @UNWatch @hrf @TheRWCHR event:https://t.co/GBPUGIv7Dm

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 10, 2022

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The post Algeria to serve on key UN human rights panel, screening individual complaints appeared first on UN Watch.

Already in the XIXth century Arabs and Jews, who equally belong to the Semitic race, were the target of the same anti-Semitic stereotyping… Since the holocaust, fortunately anti-Semitism targeting the Jews has been eschewed from public speech. However, it continues to be accepted in the name of freedom of expression when it takes the form of Arabophobia, or by extension, of Islamophobia.

Jazairy’s application clarifies his vision of the anti-American mandate, which includes shilling for Vladimir Putin’s aggression:

I regard UCMs [unilateral coercive measures] as an issue which principally affects North-South relations and see this mandate as an opportunity to put to use my experience of half a century in multilateralism as a bridge-builder between North and South. Pre-Helsinki UCMs were an expression of East-West rivalry. Alas! increased tension over Crimea and Ukraine has all but revived this situation. The impact of UCMs on human rights being conversely related to the level of development of the targeted countries, the people of the South are the most vulnerable to Northern “sanctions.”

Given the purpose of this UN mandate, Jazairy might be the most suitable candidate of all.

The post UNHRC taps Algerian for new post to oppose U.S. sanctions, a Cuban-backed mandate appeared first on UN Watch.

The post “Black Day for Human Rights”: Global Outrage as UN Elects China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia to Top Rights Body appeared first on UN Watch.

• Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese civil rights activist who escaped house arrest in 2012 after being detained for organizing a lawsuit against Chinese authorities;
• Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi scholar and political analyst who was arrested as a teenager because of his family members’ political activity;
• Masha Gessen, a Russian journalist, author, and LGBT rights activist forced to flee her country with her family after a crackdown on same-sex families;
• Rosa Maria Payá, a human rights advocate from Cuba leading a campaign to launch an investigation into the death of her father, the late civil society activist Oswaldo Payá; and
• Yang Jianli, a Chinese scholar, pro-democracy advocate, and former political prisoner, who presented a petition against China’s bid for a seat on the UNHRC.

Human Rights Foundation president Thor Halvorssen and UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer jointly present their report evaluating the countries that have submitted candidacies for the November 12 election of new members to the UNHRC.
Click here for PDF of the full report.

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UN Watch reveals: Algeria, Chad, China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam expected to win 2014-16 terms on world’s top rights body; Iran & Syria may also be running

GENEVA, July 9 — As a United Nations meeting is today set to hear live campaign pitches (webcast link) from the UK, France and other democracies running for seats on the world body’s Human Rights Council, the Geneva-based non-governmental human rights group UN Watch revealed its “List of Shame” — naming some of the world’s worst abusers who are also running in the Nov. 2013 election and expected to win seats: Algeria, Chad, China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. Though unconfirmed, reportedly Iran and Syria may also be running. Click here for full chart of candidates (PDF).

“This is a recipe for disaster,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. “By electing massive abusers of human rights to the very body charged with protecting them, the UN is about to drop more rotten ingredients into the soup. We should not be surprised by the results.”

The council already includes Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Mauritania, Venezuela, and other countries with dismal human rights records.

UN Watch is already working with dissidents and NGOs from China (photo left), Cuba and Russia to oppose those candidacies. In recent years, UN Watch successfully led international coalitions of MPs and NGOs to block bids by Syria and Sudan. However, most abusers win election. “Politics, not principles, are too often what rule in UN elections,” said Neuer.

“Candidates like Algeria, China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia have one thing in common: they systematically violate the human rights of their own citizens,” said Neuer, “and they have consistently voted the wrong way on UN initiatives to protect the human rights of others.”

“It’s not only that these governments are unqualified; they are the ones who should be in the dock of the accused, not sitting on high as prosecutor and judge.”

“It is an insult to their victims — and a defeat for the global cause of human rights — when the U.N. allows gross abusers to act as champions and global judges of human rights,” said Neuer.

“When the U.N.’s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world’s victims suffer.”

Click here for full chart (PDF)

The post “List of Shame”: World’s Worst Abusers Running for UN Human Rights Council Seats appeared first on UN Watch.

At the close of Friday’s meeting, Pakistan said, “Effective exercise of the right to self-determination is a prerequisite for other human rights and freedoms. Only when self-determination has been achieved can people ensure full enjoyment of all rights without discrimination.”

It went on to justify acts of terror in the name of advocating for this right. “The legitimate struggles of peoples for the right to self determination cannot be questioned by equating them with terrorism,” it said.

Pakistan explained that the right to self-determination cannot be exercised under conditions of “foreign occupation,” pointing to Palestine and Kashmir as examples. “The unresolved status of these areas continues to haunt the conscience of the international community.”

This morning, Algeria stated its support for Pakistan’s remarks, adding “Contempt for the right to self-determination leads to a loss of all other rights… Any attempt to sacrifice the right would be a step backwards.”

At the same time, it clarified that the right only extends to “occupied territories,” for which a State’s right to “territorial integrity” cannot be invoked.

(Editor’s note: Interestingly, Algeria does not define what constitutes “foreign occupation” and who exactly has the right to “advocate for self-determination” and who not. Both Pakistan and Algeria did not see the Tamils of Sri Lanka as having any such right and instead condemned their terror tactics. They also both vigorously defended Sri Lanka’s “right to territorial integrity” and “sovereignty” during the Special Session to address rights violations in that country. A double standard?)

On the other hand, Morocco countered that the right to self-determination, as invoked in the 1960s, is “obsolete.” It made the statement while exercising its right of reply on allegations of occupying the Western Sahara and denying the rights of its people to self-determination. “International law is based on the nation state,” it said. “The UN Charter and relevant Security Council resolutions are based on the responsibility to ensure state security.”

The post Pakistan, Algeria: Right to Self-Determination Justifies Terrorism; Morocco: the Right is “Obsolete” appeared first on UN Watch.

At the close of Friday’s meeting, Pakistan said, “Effective exercise of the right to self-determination is a prerequisite for other human rights and freedoms. Only when self-determination has been achieved can people ensure full enjoyment of all rights without discrimination.”

It went on to justify acts of terror in the name of advocating for this right. “The legitimate struggles of peoples for the right to self determination cannot be questioned by equating them with terrorism,” it said.

Pakistan explained that the right to self-determination cannot be exercised under conditions of “foreign occupation,” pointing to Palestine and Kashmir as examples. “The unresolved status of these areas continues to haunt the conscience of the international community.”

This morning, Algeria stated its support for Pakistan’s remarks, adding “Contempt for the right to self-determination leads to a loss of all other rights… Any attempt to sacrifice the right would be a step backwards.”

At the same time, it clarified that the right only extends to “occupied territories,” for which a State’s right to “territorial integrity” cannot be invoked.

(Editor’s note: Interestingly, Algeria does not define what constitutes “foreign occupation” and who exactly has the right to “advocate for self-determination” and who not. Both Pakistan and Algeria did not see the Tamils of Sri Lanka as having any such right and instead condemned their terror tactics. They also both vigorously defended Sri Lanka’s “right to territorial integrity” and “sovereignty” during the Special Session to address rights violations in that country. A double standard?)

On the other hand, Morocco countered that the right to self-determination, as invoked in the 1960s, is “obsolete.” It made the statement while exercising its right of reply on allegations of occupying the Western Sahara and denying the rights of its people to self-determination. “International law is based on the nation state,” it said. “The UN Charter and relevant Security Council resolutions are based on the responsibility to ensure state security.”

The post Pakistan, Algeria: Right to Self-Determination Justifies Terrorism; Morocco: the Right is “Obsolete” appeared first on UN Watch.

Algeria took the opportunity to attack her and the work of her office. While paying lip service to “respecting the independence” of both the High Commissioner and the Council, it said it is “time to address the relationship between the Council and the High Commissioner.” It complained about her report on civilians in armed conflict, which highlighted situations around the world, including in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, the “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” Colombia, Somalia, the Congo, Sudan, and Chad. Algeria argued that these different situations should be treated with radically different approaches, considering that “The situation in Pakistan is a situation of defense and, in Palestine, we are talking about a situation stemming from foreign military occupation.” It also challenged the High Commissioner’s call for an independent inquiry into the human rights violations in Sri Lanka, pointing to the fact that the Council majority had rejected such a proposition. “Nobody has the right to challenge the Council, which has decided not to have an independent inquiry in Sri Lanka,” it said. Moreover, Algeria criticized the High Commissioner’s declaration supporting freedom from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. “This question has no ground in international human rights instruments in force so has no place in her mandate,” it said. Lastly, Algeria noted “violations of the code of conduct by several Special Rapporteurs,” saying it hopes “these will be adhered to in the future.”

On the other hand, a number of European Union States, Switzerland, and Canada stressed their support for the independence of the High Commissioner and her office.

“We are against attempts by certain delegations to orient what you say and limit your autonomy,” Switzerland told the High Commissioner. “In the same light, the independence of Special Rapporteurs is crucial and must be preserved.”

A number of EU States commended the High Commissioner regarding her support for holding the recent Special Session on Sri Lanka.

A myriad of states from all regions praised the High Commissioner for her work towards ensuring a “successful” outcome of the Durban Review Conference (“Durban II”). (Included Switzerland, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Ireland, and Morocco). Switzerland commended the “consensus” achieved at Durban II, despite the fact that a number of Western States boycotted the conference because of the outcome document’s failure to strictly adhere to all their red-lines as well as the platform given to Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

A number of Western States also took the opportunity to raise specific country situations. The USA made a veiled reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre, given that yesterday marked the passing of twenty years since the horrific event. “This week and month in particular, the U.S. recalls the courage of those who stand for respect of human rights and demand transparency in government, even risking their own rights, freedoms, and even lives,” it said.

Slovenia said it is “alarmed by the grave situation in Sudan,” including the execution of four minors (under the age of 18).

France said “Sexual violence has reached unbearable levels in the Congo and Sudan.” It continued, “We must work more than ever in investigating questions of impunity. We need impartial investigations of allegations around the world, whether in Gaza or Sri Lanka.”

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