A/HRC/7/78 page 10 6. Affirms the vital importance of geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, taking into account the significance of national and regional specificities and various historic, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as of different political, economic and legal systems, to the promotion and protection of the universality of human rights; 7. Recalls the provisions contained in section X, paragraph 3, of General Assembly resolution 55/258 of 14 June 2001 on human resources management, in which the Assembly reiterated its request to the Secretary-General to increase further his efforts to improve the composition of the Secretariat by ensuring a wide and equitable geographical distribution of staff in all departments; 8. Encourages the General Assembly to consider further measures for promoting desirable ranges of geographical balance in the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner representing national and regional specificities, various historic, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as the diversity of political, economic and legal systems; 9. Welcomes the significant increase in the human and financial resources allocated to the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner; 10. Recognizes the importance of the follow-up to and implementation of General Assembly resolution 61/159 of 19 December 2006 and underlines the priority importance that the Assembly continue providing support and guidance to the High Commissioner in the ongoing process of improvement of the geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner; 11. Requests the High Commissioner to submit a comprehensive and updated report to the Council in 2009 in accordance with its annual programme of work, following the structure and scope of her report and with a special focus on further measures taken to correct the imbalance in geographical composition of the staff of the Office. 39th meeting 27 March 2008 Adopted by a recorded vote of 34 to 10, with 3 abstentions. The voting was as follows: In favour: Angola, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uruguay, Zambia; Against: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Abstaining: Japan, Republic of Korea, Switzerland. See chapter II.