Bangladesh elected vice president of UN human rights council for 2025 

Bangladesh has been elected unanimously to serve as a vice president of the human rights council, the prime intergovernmental body of the United Nations responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. 

In a press release, the permanent mission in Geneva said the decision has been made on 9 December, when the human rights council met for an organisational session pertinent to the council’s work for the year 2025.

As an elected vice-president, the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva will join the bureau of the human rights council from 1 January to 31 December 2025. The bureau of the human rights council consists of one president and four vice presidents representing each of the five UN regional groups.

The process for election of vice-president started in October 2024, when Bangladesh expressed its interest to serve in the bureau as the vice president representing the Asia-Pacific group (APG). The APG unanimously supported the candidature of Bangladesh for the vice-presidency and forwarded the nomination for the consideration of the wider memberships of the council. 

Finally, the process culminated successfully when Bangladesh earned unanimous support of the entire membership of the council to serve as the vice president.

This is the first time that Bangladesh is going to serve as the vice president of the prestigious UN human rights body since its establishment in 2006 by the UN general assembly. 

The release noted that this is yet another example of the trust and confidence that the international community reposes on Bangladesh under the prudent leadership of chief adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus as well as a recognition of the active role and growing influence of Bangladesh in multilateralism.