By EDITH M. LEDERER<\/p>\n
UNITED NATIONS (AP) \u2014 U.N. human rights chief Volker T\u00fcrk<\/a> won a second term Friday despite opposition from the United States, Russia and Israel to keep him in one of the most controversial United Nations posts for four more years.<\/p>\n U.N. member nations rejected a U.S. proposal to delay the vote until the end of next week as well as a Russian proposal to extend T\u00fcrk\u2019s term just until the end of the year. The vote in the 193-member General Assembly to reappoint T\u00fcrk was 144-10, with 13 abstentions.<\/p>\n While he got strong support, the votes and speeches also reflected concern that Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres quietly nominated the Austrian lawyer this month after private consultations, with no public discussion, as the U.N. chief nears the end of his own 10-year tenure.<\/p>\n T\u00fcrk\u2019s job as the U.N. rights chief, by its nature, is tricky: It requires speaking out against rights violations by the governments of the countries that make up the membership of the world body. For instance, T\u00fcrk has sharply criticized Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n T\u00fcrk got wide support but loud pushback from the U.S. and Israel<\/p>\n T\u00fcrk, whose term was supposed to expire on Oct. 11, has faced opposition from critics and some countries for his criticism of Israel\u2019s attacks in Gaza<\/a> and his approach to China\u2019s crackdown on its Uyghur minority<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russia called Guterres\u2019 effort to give T\u00fcrk four more years as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights<\/a> \u201cunprecedented.\u201d None of his predecessors have served two full terms since the job was created in 1993.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s extension proposal would have left the choice of a new human rights chief to the next secretary-general, with Guterres\u2019 second five-year term ending Dec. 31. Six candidates are vying to be the new U.N. chief<\/a>.<\/p>\n Guterres sent letters to regional groups at the United Nations earlier this month informing them of his intention to reappoint T\u00fcrk. The African group had no objection, but the Latin American countries had several, including Nicaragua, Argentina and Paraguay.<\/p>\n The U.S. State Department called the rushed vote \u201canother example of the U.N.\u2019s inherent corruption and incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVolker Turk has turned a blind eye to real atrocities and instead pursued a radical ideological agenda,\u201d the department said. \u201cWe will not allow the UN Secretary-General (SYG) to reward his crony with a cushy job extension he has done nothing to earn.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry called Guterres\u2019 action to get a second term for T\u00fcrk the U.N. secretary-general\u2019s \u201clatest moral failure,\u201d saying on social media that the choice should be left to his successor.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter years of bias against Israel, the answer is accountability \u2014 not rewriting the rules,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n Guterres is \u2018following the rules\u2019 on the reappointment, UN says<\/p>\n U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric says Guterres was following the 1993 resolution that established a U.N. high commissioner for human rights and allows for a second term.<\/p>\n \u201cThe secretary-general is doing things in a very transparent manner, following the rules and his authority,\u201d Dujarric told reporters earlier Friday. \u201cConsultations were had with member states prior to this and with regional groups.\u201d<\/p>\n T\u00fcrk \u201cis ready to serve\u201d a new term, rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said. She noted the job calls for the \u201cpromotion and protection of human rights everywhere, and as a part of this, he sees it as his role to engage with all states.\u201d<\/p>\n As human rights chief, the longtime U.N. functionary who worked for Guterres at United Nations headquarters in New York, T\u00fcrk has expressed concerns on issues in China as diverse as the fate of detained individuals \u2014 like artist Gao Zhen, lawyer Yu Wensheng and media mogul Jimmy Lai<\/a> \u2014 and counterterrorism and assimilation practices that affect ethnic minorities including the Uyghurs<\/a> in the regions of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Tibet.<\/p>\n Critics insist he could have done more to publicly follow up on a report issued by his predecessor, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, that said China\u2019s discriminatory detention of Uyghurs<\/a> and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang may amount to crimes against humanity<\/a>.<\/p>\n T\u00fcrk also has stopped short of joining independent U.N. rights experts who have accused Israel of genocide<\/a> against Palestinians during its war against Hamas<\/a> in Gaza. Israel vehemently denies those claims.<\/p>\n Critic focuses on approach to China\u2019s treatment of Uyghurs<\/p>\n Former head of Human Rights Watch Ken Roth called T\u00fcrk \u201ca disaster\u201d and said, \u201cthe biggest stain on T\u00fcrk\u2019s reputation is his utter abandonment of the Uyghurs.\u201d He called them victims of the most severe state persecution that T\u00fcrk has ignored.<\/p>\n The Chinese government denies the Uyghurs have been or are being persecuted. It maintains its policies in Xinjiang rooted out terrorism and religious extremism after sporadic bouts of violence rocked the region in previous decades.<\/p>\n T\u00fcrk has used both private engagement with Beijing and public advocacy to support human rights in China, his office said. Roth called that \u201can admission that he is doing nothing, that he\u2019s putting the plight of the Uyghurs on the deep back burner, and is just pretending to care.\u201d<\/p>\n Roth said T\u00fcrk has a major problem because the job of U.N. human rights commissioner \u201cshould be about stirring up public pressure, and you do that by being tough, provocative, timely.\u201d<\/p>\n He \u201chas succeeded in making a powerful position largely innocuous,\u201d talking about issues in a way \u201cthat makes people\u2019s eyes glaze over,\u201d Roth said.<\/p>\n Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By EDITH M. 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