June 20, 2018 -- Soon after the United Sates announced to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Tuesday, Russia put forward its candidacy for membership of the UNHRC for 2021-2023.

Russia wants to work with the UNHRC to continue the equal communication and cooperation on human rights, said Fedor Strzhizhovskiy, first secretary of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the United Nations. Member countries of the UNHRC were re-elected at the New York UN Headquarters on October 28, 2016. 14 countries including China were successfully elected and their term of service is from 2017 to 2019. Russia lost to Croatia with just two votes, 112 to 114.

Washington's withdrawal would be the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal. Social activists warn that the United Sates’ withdrawal will increase the difficulty of promoting global human rights governance.

By: Jia Puyu