ISLAMABAD: Pakistan was elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) on Tuesday for a three-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2026, after securing 178 votes in the UN General Assembly, the foreign office said.
The council, an intergovernmental body of 47 member states, is the UN’s top platform for addressing human rights issues globally and responding to violations requiring urgent international attention.
“During its term as a member of the HRC, Pakistan will actively engage with the broader UN membership and civil society to advance all facets of human rights,” the foreign office said. “This includes civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, alongside the right to development.”
“Pakistan will also lend its full support to the HRC’s mandate, ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights grounded in the principles of universality, objectivity, transparency, and non-selectivity,” it added,
The election marks the sixth time Pakistan has won a seat on the Geneva-based body since its establishment in 2006, a development Islamabad described as evidence of the international community’s confidence in its “constructive role” and commitment to global human rights dialogue.
The foreign office said Pakistan had always played the role of a consensus-builder within the council while making “persistent efforts” to strengthen the international human rights system.
It added the country would continue to raise human rights concerns in territories under foreign occupation, including Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
