Austrian lawyer Volker Turk set to grow to be first UN rights chief to finish two four-year phrases since submit was created.
Printed On 25 Jul 2026
Volkur Turk, the outspoken United Nations human rights chief who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza and throughout the broader area, has received a vote to serve a second time period in his function.
UN member states voted 144-10, with 13 abstentions, on Friday to maintain Turk in his submit as UN human rights chief. His time period was set to run out on October 11, however he’ll now serve for an extra 4 years.
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If he finishes his second time period, he would be the first UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights to take action for the reason that submit was created in 1993. America, Israel, Russia, North Korea and 6 others opposed his re-election.
Turk stated he was “deeply grateful” to be re-elected.
“Human rights are the antidote to immediately’s turbulence and defeatism. I’ll give my all for the rights of everybody, in all places,” he wrote in a social media submit.
The rights chief has angered many in Israel by criticising the nation’s genocidal warfare on Gaza, its assaults on Lebanon, and the “shameful” lack of accountability for rights abuses within the occupied Palestinian territory.
A lawyer by coaching, Turk has spent virtually his profession working within the UN, together with posts within the UNHCR, the UN’s devoted physique for refugees.
He has repeatedly urged Israel to adjust to worldwide humanitarian regulation, and stated the state is accountable for any violations of human rights that it commits.
The European Union’s delegation on the UN welcomed Turk’s reappointment, saying it appears to be like ahead to working together with his workplace to “promote and shield human rights worldwide”.
US and Israeli criticism
Israel’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs had criticised Turk’s file, saying that beneath his management the Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights has “erased the atrocities of October 7, misused funds, and betrayed UN neutrality in favor of corrupt political radicalism”.
Israel has been accused by main rights teams and UN consultants of rampant rights abuses, together with carrying out a genocide in Gaza.
Jeff Bartos, the US consultant for UN Administration and Reform, stated that the UN human rights system has been dropping credibility for many years, that Turk “led it to its deathbed” as Friday’s vote “kicked the bucket”.
The US has been Israel’s prime ally and weapons supplier.
UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres confronted criticism for the way he managed the vote on Turk’s second time period.
Guterres, whose time period expires in December, despatched letters to regional teams on the UN earlier this month informing them of his intention to reappoint Turk, and held the vote simply weeks later.
The US Division of State known as the rushed vote “one other instance of the UN’s inherent corruption and incompetence”, saying Turk “turned a blind eye to actual atrocities and as an alternative pursued a radical ideological agenda.”
