The Human Rights Council this morning elected its new bureau for 2015 at an organizational meeting appointing Ambassador Joachim Ruecker, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Office at Geneva, to serve as its President for a term beginning on 1 January 2015. The full text of This news is availabl in the United Nations Human Rights Council website. Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong Ella of Gabon, who has been serving as Human Rights Council President throughout 2014, while noting that the Council had adopted 114 texts during his tenure, 65 per cent by consensus, on a wide range of issues, called on the international community to bolster its funding to human rights programmes in order for the Organization to meet its many related demands effectively. Similarly, the Council President-elect, Ambassador Joachim Ruecker, stressed the importance of advancing human rights globally so as to ensure “a more peaceful and prosperous world” and to continue working in close cooperation with civil society. “Civil Society is at the core of human rights, at the core of our work.” He added: “I am firmly convinced that it was, is and will continue to be in our common interest to promote a culture of non-reprisals, free from fear of intimidation, when it comes to civil society, human rights defenders and individuals who seek to cooperate and work with the Council, its mechanisms and procedures.” The Council will hold its next organizational meeting on 13 January 2015 at which time it is expected to adopt its programme of work for the year
