Today, for the first time in its history, Albania was elected member of the UN Human Rights Council, with 176 votes, during the elections held at the UN General Assembly in New York. The HRC is an inter-governmental body of the UN, the 47 members of which are responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights in the world, regardless of nationality, citizenship, gender, color, religion, language or any other status.

Albania’s election to the HRC is at the same time a recognition and a guarantee of its permanent engagement in issues related to human rights. Albania has much to offer to the world through the values it embodies, such as religious harmony, devotion to good neighborly relations, tolerance, hospitality, as well as through the experience it has gained during the comprehensive reformation cycle the country has gone through.

Albania estimates that the HRC has managed to build a vital platform for thematic issues related to human rights around the world, where member countries have the opportunity to discuss and take appropriate actions to address them. During its three-year membership in the HRC, the Republic of Albania will be committed to the universalization and indivisibility of human rights and will work to strengthen them as well as the infrastructure of the UN system, including capacity building of the Council.

Albania will continue to fulfill all its obligations and commitments for the enhancement and implementation of the legal and institutional framework, as well as for the further advancement of national and international policies aiming at the protection of human rights.