The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Friday to extend the term of UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk for four more years, in spite of opposition from Israel, the United States and Russia.

Turk has been a harsh critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

UN member nations rejected a US proposal to delay the vote until the end of next week as well as a Russian proposal to extend Türk’s term just until the end of the year. The vote in the 193-member General Assembly to reappoint Türk was 144-10, with 13 abstentions.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has worked closely with Turk in the past and steps down in December, proposed the second four-year term for Turk when his existing term expires in October.

No other human rights chief has served two full terms.

The Foreign Ministry had called Guterres’s re-proposal of Turk a “moral failure” and said the choice should be left to the secretary-general’s successor.

Turk has condemned what he calls Israel’s “mass killing” in Gaza, while some, including his own staff, have expressed regret that he did not call the killings a genocide — an allegation Israel vehemently denies.

While Turk got strong support, the votes and speeches also reflected concern that Guterres quietly nominated the Austrian lawyer this month after private consultations, with no public discussion.

US deputy ambassador Jeff Bartos warned before the vote that reappointing Turk would prove that the General Assembly “is dysfunctional” and that the vote “was quietly shoved onto the agenda at the last minute to bypass meaningful review.

“Make no mistake, if this assembly tolerates procedural overreach, backroom deals and the misuse of UN posts, there will be consequences,” he warned. “The United States will immediately reassess our engagement, participation and........

© The Times of Israel