Eduardo González
The United Nations Human Rights Council elected the ambassadors of Ethiopia, Estonia, and Spain as vice-presidents on Monday, December 8, for a one-year term beginning January 1, 2026.
Specifically, Spain’s ambassador to the Council, Marcos Gómez Martínez, was elected vice-president, representing the Group of Western European and Other States. According to the Council, based in Geneva, Gómez Martínez will serve as Special Rapporteur.
Spain has been a member of the Council since January 1, 2025, for the 2025-2027 term, but it had already served on this body twice before: from 2011 to 2013 and from 2018 to 2020.
The other two vice-presidents are Tsegab Kebebew Daka of Ethiopia (African Group) and Riia Salsa-Audiffren of Estonia (Eastern European Group). A fourth vice-president, from the Latin American and Caribbean Group, and a president, from the Asia-Pacific Group, will be elected later.
“Spain has been elected to serve as vice-president of the UN Human Rights Council in 2026,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced via social media. “Spain is an active and committed member of the Council,” it continued. “We support the essential work of the UN in protecting and promoting human rights through dialogue with all regions,” it concluded.
The Human Rights Council, the principal multilateral body for the protection and promotion of human rights worldwide, was established by the UN General Assembly in March 2006, replacing the former Commission on Human Rights, and is headquartered in Geneva.
The Council is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly that meets regularly throughout the year and is intergovernmental in nature. Specifically, the Council is composed of 47 UN Member States elected by the General Assembly through direct and secret ballot for a three-year term.
Membership is distributed among the UN regional groups: seven for Western Europe and other groups (including the United States and Canada), six for Eastern Europe, thirteen for Africa, thirteen for Asia, and eight for Latin America and the Caribbean. Each member State serves a three-year term, although it may be re-elected for up to two consecutive terms.
Apart from the current period, Spain has been part of this organization on two other occasions: between 2011 and 2013 (it began during the PSOE government, with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, but was mainly developed under the presidency of Mariano Rajoy, of the PP) and between 2018 and 2020 (the candidacy was presented in 2017 by the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfonso Dastis, in the Rajoy Executive, but most of the term took place under the Government of the current president, the socialist Pedro Sánchez).
