May 26, 2018
The United Nations has granted accreditation to two American groups focusing on human rights in Iran and North Korea, overturning a committee’s rejection and giving the groups the right to speak at the Human Rights Council and other UN bodies.
The 54-member Economic and Social Council approved the application from the US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea by a vote of 29-6 with 13 abstentions, and the application from the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center by a vote of 22-7 with 17 abstentions.
In February, the UN’s 19-member NGO Committee voted against accrediting the two organizations, but the US and Canada went to its larger parent body, the Economic and Social Council, to appeal for a change.
“These votes are wins for human rights,” US Ambassador Nikki Haley said after the reversal. “For far too long, the NGO Committee has been overrun by serial human rights abusers that ruin the UN’s credibility on human rights.”
She said, “Credible NGOs should never be blocked from participating at the UN, especially when their work sheds light on some of the world’s worst human rights abuses.”
Only six countries supported North Korea’s view and voted against accreditation — Belarus, China, Russia, South Africa, Venezuela and Vietnam. In the vote on the Iran rights center, those six countries and Iraq voted against accreditation.