Indonesia begins its tenure as president of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this month under a cloud of contradiction, with officials hailing the prestige of the largely ceremonial role even as activists raise uncomfortable questions about the country’s own rights record.
The 47-member body, a subsidiary of the UN General Assembly, has a mandate to promote and protect human rights globally. Indonesia’s ambassador was elected president on January 8 after being put forward as the Asia‑Pacific group’s sole candidate.
“This is a very prestigious mandate,” Indah Nuria Savitri, the foreign ministry’s director for human rights and migration, told reporters.
She said…