Video claims India elected as UN President for 4 years; Fact Check

A social media post is circulating on Facebook claiming that India has been elected as the president of the UN for 4 years.

The post 9Now deleted from Facebook) is also sharing a video narrating in Hindi that translates to:”India was elected as the president of the UN in a historical upheaval. In the UN India got the highest number of votes in the voting India became the President of the United Nations for four years. India and China had a tough fight but UN member states showed their faith in India, handed over the United Nations to India.”

FACT CHECK

The video claiming India getting elected to the UN as President came amid official reports of India getting elected as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission in the first week of April and the External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar, shared the news officially on his twitter handle.

The term for the UN Statistical Commission is for four years and India won 46 out of 53 votes, ahead of South Korea (23), China (19), and the UAE (15) as per the official statement of the UN. India’s four-year term will begin on 1 January 2024. The UN Statistical Commission is one of the ECOSOC commissions India has been elected to recently.

The United Nations Statistical Commission is the highest body of the global statistical system and it brings together the Chief Statisticians from member states worldwide and it is the highest decision-making body for international statistical activities. Moreover, its head is called a Chairperson, not a President, as claimed in the post. India was elected as a member, not as its Chairperson.

Claim: India was elected as the president of the UN for four years.

Conclusion: India was recently elected as a member of the UN Statistical Commission for a term of four years, and NOT as the President of the UN. The head of UN Statistical Commission is a Chairperson, not a President. India was elected as a member of the UN Statistical Commission for four years, not as its president.

Rating: Misrepresentation —