Dr Asim elected as one of four Vice Presidents of UNHRC 2023

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday elected Dr Asim Ahmed to serve as one of the four Vice Presidents of the council for 2023.

Dr Asim is Maldives’ Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other international organisations in Geneva.

The other three Vice Presidents elected to the UNHRC’s leadership are Ambassadors Marc Bichler of Luxembourg, Maria Mariela of Bolivia and Muhammadou M.O. Kah of Gambia.

The UNHRC elected Václav Bálek of Czech Republic to serve as its President for 2023.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid congratulated Dr Asim for being elected from the Asia-Pacific group of UNHRC for next year and affirmed Maldives’ commitment to uphold the ideals of human rights, democracy and rule of law. He also credited President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s “strong foreign policy” for the achievement.

The Maldives’ Foreign Minister was elected as the President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last year.

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Dr Asim served as the Ambassador-at-Large at the foreign ministry before being appointed as Maldives’ Permanent Representative to the UN. He had also served as the Minister of Education and the President of the Local Government Authority (LGA), as well as being a member of the National Security Council.

Maldives has previously served as a member of the Human Rights Council for two conservative terms, from 2011 to 2016. Maldives also held the Vice Presidency of the Council throughout 2013, representing the Asia-Pacific Group. In October 2022, Maldives was elected to the UNHRC, at the UNGA in New York, with 154 votes, out of a total of 189 votes cast. Maldives competed in the Asia-Pacific group for one of the vacant seats. Bangladesh, Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan won the other three seats in the group.

Last month, the government announced its decision to put forward its candidacy for membership as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the term 2033-2034, as well as membership of the United Nations Economic and Social Council for the term 2027-2029.