Volker Turk wins a new term as UN rights chief despite US and Israeli opposition

VOLKER TURK has been re-elected as the United Nations head of human rights for another four year term, despite strong objections and lobbying by the United States and Israel.

Friday’s vote by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) means Turk will become the first person to serve two full terms as the UN rights chief since the role was created in 1993.

Turk, an Austrian lawyer, joined the UN in 1999 and went on to work in the organisation’s refugee agency. This included posts in Malaysia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He later worked in senior roles at UN headquarters in New York, including as assistant secretary-general for strategic coordination under UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

In his role as UN rights chief, Turk has been highly critical of both Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He has also been vocal in slamming conflicts and rights abuses in Afghanistan, Sudan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The UNGA backed his reappointment with a massive 144 votes in favour, 10 against and 13 abstentions.

Earlier, the UNGA knocked back a US proposal to delay the vote until the end of next week as well as a Russian bid to extend Turk’s term until the end of the year only.

Turk’s outspoken criticism of policies in the US, Israel and Russia has put him at odds with all three countries.

Turk has repeatedly slammed Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza, its illegal assault and occupation of Lebanon and its “shameful” lack of accountability for its rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territory.

He has also dubbed Russia’s war in Ukraine as “senseless” and a “blatant affront to the UN Charter and the whole body of international law.”

Turk has raised concerns about the US and Israel’s illegal and unprovoked war on Iran and the “dehumanisation” of immigrants under President Donald Trump, citing routine “abuse and denigration of migrants and refugees.”

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticised Turk’s record, saying that under his leadership the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has “erased the atrocities of October 7, misused funds, and betrayed UN neutrality in favor of corrupt political radicalism.”

Russia’s ⁠Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Chumakov accused Turk of bias and making unfounded allegations against Russia.

Guterres, whose own term is due to end at the end of this year, has faced criticism for how he managed the reappointment. Critics say the vote was rushed and the selection of a rights chief should have been left to his successor.

The UN secretary-general, whose term expires in December, sent letters to regional groups at the UN earlier this month informing them of his intention to reappoint Turk, and held the vote just weeks later.

The US Department of State criticised the vote for being rushed and claimed it was “another example of the UN’s inherent corruption and incompetence.”

Washington also accused Turk of turning “a blind eye to real atrocities and instead pursued a radical ideological agenda.”

US Deputy Ambassador Jeff Bartos claimed before Friday’s vote that reappointing Turk would prove that the General Assembly “is dysfunctional.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry called Guterres’s push for a second term for Turk a “moral failure,” saying that the choice should be left to his successor.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Guterres had followed UN rules and engaged “in a very transparent manner” in appointing Turk, including by holding prior consultations with member states and regional groups.