UN rights chief Turk wins second term despite US and Israeli opposition

Austrian lawyer Volker Turk set to become first UN rights chief to complete two four-year terms since post was created.

Volkur Turk, the outspoken United Nations human rights chief who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza and across the wider region, has won a vote to serve a second term in his role.

UN member states voted ۱۴۴-۱۰, with ۱۳ abstentions, on Friday to keep Turk in his post as UN human rights chief. His term was set to expire on October ۱۱, but he will now serve for an additional four years.

If he finishes his second term, he will be the first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to do so since the post was created in ۱۹۹۳. The United States, Israel, Russia, North Korea and six others opposed his re-election.

Turk said he was “deeply grateful” to be re-elected.

“Human rights are the antidote to today’s turbulence and defeatism. I will give my all for the rights of everyone, everywhere,” he wrote in a social media post.

The rights chief has angered many in Israel by criticising the country’s genocidal war on Gaza, its attacks on Lebanon, and the “shameful” lack of accountability for rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territory.

A lawyer by training, Turk has spent almost his career working in the UN, including posts in the UNHCR, the UN’s dedicated body for refugees.

He has repeatedly urged Israel to comply with international humanitarian law, and said the state is accountable for any violations of human rights that it commits.

The European Union’s delegation at the UN welcomed Turk’s reappointment, saying it looks forward to working with his office to “promote and protect human rights worldwide”.

US and Israeli criticism

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had criticised Turk’s record, saying that under his leadership the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has “erased the atrocities of October ۷, misused funds, and betrayed UN neutrality in favor of corrupt political radicalism”.

Israel has been accused by leading rights groups and UN experts of rampant rights abuses, including carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

Jeff Bartos, the US representative for UN Management and Reform, said that the UN human rights system has been losing credibility for decades, that Turk “led it to its deathbed” as Friday’s vote “kicked the bucket”.

The US has been Israel’s top ally and weapons provider.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres faced criticism for how he managed the vote on Turk’s second term.

Guterres, 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 called the rushed vote “another example of the UN’s inherent corruption and incompetence”, saying Turk “turned a blind eye to real atrocities and instead pursued a radical ideological agenda.”