AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan was elected to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for the term 2022–2024 at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the Kazakh foreign ministry said.

The priority areas of Kazakhstan’s work in the Council will include the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, the universal abolition of the death penalty, and fight against all forms of intolerance, and promoting freedom of religion and belief. It will also work towards upholding and assuring inclusive and universal education, as well as respect for human rights in the context of the COVID–19 pandemic.

The election of Kazakhstan to the main human rights body of the World Organization is a recognition of the role that Kazakhstan plays as an active and responsible Member State in the process of promoting international norms and standards in the field of human rights and protection of universal freedoms, the foreign ministry said.

Together with Kazakhstan, the other countries that also jointed the UN HRC are the United States, Luxembourg, Finland, Lithuania, Montenegro, Argentina, Honduras, Paraguay, Benin, Cameroon, Eritrea, Gambia, Somalia, India, Malaysia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier Kazakhstan was elected to the Council for the term 2013–2015.

The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body of the UN system, which includes 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. The competence of the UN HRC includes deliberations on all thematic issues and situations in the field of human rights that require attention and need to be addressed. The members of the Council are elected from the five regional groups of the UN and serve for three years. Meetings of the Council are held at the UN Office in Geneva.