January 9, 2026 | 01:47 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United Nations' Human Rights Council has elected an Indonesian diplomat as its president for 2026, marking the first time Indonesia will lead the UN’s principal body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights worldwide.
According to UN News, Indonesia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Ambassador Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro, was appointed President of the Council’s 20th session on Thursday.
Under the Council’s rules, the president is elected for a one-year term by its 47 member states, which are based in Geneva.
Ambassador Sidharto was nominated as the sole candidate from the Asia-Pacific group, which holds the rotating right to propose the council’s leadership.
Other members of the regional bloc include China, Japan, and South Korea. He succeeds Ambassador Jürg Lauber of Switzerland, who served as president in 2025.
During his term, Indonesia will chair three regular sessions of the council, scheduled to begin in late February, June, and September.
Sidharto will also oversee the Universal Periodic Review, a key process that evaluates the human rights records of all UN member states.
Following his appointment, Sidharto said Indonesia’s decision to seek the presidency reflects its long-standing support for the Human Rights Council and its predecessor, the UN Commission on Human Rights.
“Our decision to step forward is rooted in our 1945 constitution and that aligns with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter which mandates Indonesia to contribute to world peace based on independence, peace and social justice,” he told delegates.
At the same meeting, the council also approved the appointment of Ecuador’s Ambassador Marcelo Vásquez Bermúdez as vice president for 2026. Although he was the sole nominee from the Latin American and Caribbean group, Bolivia and Cuba abstained from the vote.
Addressing the council, Colombian representative María Juliana Tenorio Quintero warned of rising global tensions amid what she described as a “deep-seated global crisis.”
“We now see a return of threats and force as a way of governing international relations without looking at the real impact on the international situation and this threatens the system that for more than eight decades has been essential in avoiding a third world war,” she said.
At what she described as a “historic” moment, Quintero called on all delegates to ensure “absolute abiding” by human rights law. “We must act in accordance with international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international law as a whole,” she insisted.
Read: UN Warns US Action in Venezuela Undermines International Law
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