China Cuba Saudi Arabia elected to new UN human rights council

China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia elected to new UN human rights council
27 minutes ago

The UN General Assembly elected Cuba, China and Saudi Arabia to a new UN
Human Rights Council as part of a planned overhaul of the world body.

Seats were distributed in the first round of voting for four of five
regional groups.

Only the region of eastern Europe had yet to be completed, where for the
moment three members -- the Czech Republic, Poland and Russia -- were
selected for the region's six seats. Voting was to continue later Tuesday.

Sixty-three countries were competing for the body's 47 seats -- six
fewer than the previous UN human rights body had.

Human rights groups were disappointed that some countries with poor
human rights records had been selected but hoped the new council would
be an improvement over the previous UN body.

"The good news is that some of the least deserving governments were not
elected and both Venezuela and Iran failed to make the cut," said
Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Roth said Human Rights Watch would have "preferred" that Cuba, China,
Saudi Arabia and Russia not be a part of the new body.

But he added: "They are a reduced minority."

The council will be based in Geneva, like its controversial predecessor,
and its seats are being divided by regions, with eight set to go to
Latin America and the Caribbean, 13 to Africa, 13 to Asia, six to
eastern Europe and seven to western Europe and others, a grouping that
includes the United States, Canada and Israel.

The 13 African seats went to Algeria, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana,
Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and
Zambia.

Asia's 13 seats were awarded to Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi
Arabia, South Korea and Sri Lanka.

The eight Latin American and Caribbean posts were granted to Argentina,
Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

And the seven slots designated for western Europe and others were
accorded to Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands
and Switzerland. The United States did not run for a post.

Voting for the seats was held by secret ballot among the 191-member
General Assembly. Countries needed at least 96 votes to win a slot.

The United States opted not to seek council membership immediately,
saying there were other good candidates from its region and as a result,
it might not have been elected.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday stressed the importance of
continued US leadership in advancing human rights worldwide, especially
in light of atrocities such as those in Darfur.

"I want to stress the importance of continued American involvement in
the UN's human rights work, where historically the US has always been in
the lead," Annan said in a speech at George Washington University in
Washington.

"I see no hope of a peaceful and stable future for humanity in this
century unless the United States provides strong and enlightened global
leadership," he added. "But I do not believe that the US can do this on
its own."

Annan said he regretted the fact that Washington had decided not to
stand for election to the new Human Rights Council but felt the United
States could nonetheless still play an important role.

"The US can still have a great influence, both on the composition of the
council and on the decisions of its members once they are elected," he said.

US President George W. Bush's administration long criticized the
previous commission, saying it was ineffective and loaded with notorious
abusers such as China, Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

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