12 Mar 2019 15:55

Russia renews bid for UN Human Rights Council membership

MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax) - Russia will apply for a 2021-2023 membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), the country's permanent representative at the UN office in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, said.

"We are indeed going to file such an application. At present we are not a HRC member but we continue actively to work within this body by promoting our initiatives," Gatilov told the television channel Rossiya-24 (VGTRK).

"With full membership in this body additional possibilities will open up for us," he said.

In 2016 Russia failed to get re-elected to the UN HRC, having mustered 112 General Assembly votes and ceded to another applicant, Croatia, which got 114 votes.