Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia were set to get seats on the U.N. Security Council in a secret ballot Thursday in the General Assembly.

In the Freedom In The World 2024 report, Somalia, which was rated NOT FREE, received the the second to worst rating in the world regarding political rights and the sixth worst rating regarding civil liberties. Its general rating was 8/100.

Just one paragraph from the US Report on Human Rights Practices reveals the “significant human rights issues” in Somalia, including credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; political prisoners or detainees; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious abuses in a conflict, including reportedly unlawful or widespread civilian deaths or harm, enforced disappearances or abductions, torture, physical abuses, and conflict-related punishment; unlawful recruitment or use of children in armed conflict by the government and nonstate groups; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, censorship, and the enforcement of criminal libel laws to limit expression; serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; inability of citizens to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections; serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation; serious government corruption; extensive gender-based violence, including domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual violence, female genital mutilation/cutting, and other forms of such violence; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of ethnic minority groups; laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, although information regarding their enforcement was unclear; and existence of the worst forms of child labor.

Pakistan was rated PARTLY FREE in the Freedom in the World 2024 and received a total rating of 35 out of 100.

The 193-member world body is scheduled to vote to elect five countries to serve two-year terms on the council. The 10 non-permanent seats on the 15-member council are allotted to regional groups who usually select their candidates but sometimes can’t agree on one. There are no such surprises this year.

Last year, Slovenia soundly defeated Russia’s close ally Belarus for the seat representing the East European regional group, a vote that reflected strong global opposition to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This time, the regional groups put forward Somalia for an African seat, Pakistan for an Asia-Pacific seat, Panama for a Latin America and Caribbean seat, and Denmark and Greece for two mainly Western seats.

The five council members elected Thursday will start their terms on Jan. 1, replacing those whose two-year terms end on Dec. 31 — Mozambique, Japan, Ecuador, Malta and Switzerland.

They will join the five veto-wielding permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom and France — and the five countries elected last year — Algeria, Guyana, South Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia.

All five countries expected to win seats on Thursday have served previously on the Security Council – Pakistan seven times, Panama five times, Denmark four times, Greece twice and Somalia once.

Virtually every country agrees that almost eight decades after the United Nations was established the Security Council needs to expand and reflect the world in the 21st century, not the post-World War II era reflected now.

But with 193 countries with national interests, the central question — and the biggest disagreement — is exactly how. And for four decades, those disagreements have blocked any significant reform of the U.N.’s most powerful body.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)