THE United States stood almost alone yesterday as the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to set up a new Human Rights Council to replace the widely discredited body that sits in Geneva.

Fearful that oppressive regimes with egregious records on human rights, such as Zimbabwe and Sudan, would seize control of the new body, Washington voted against its creation.

The US was joined only by Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands in opposing the motion. Of the 191-nation General Assembly, 170 members approved the creation of the new council. Iran, Belarus and Venezuela abstained.

John Bolton, the United States Ambassador to the UN, said Washington was not confident that the new 47-member body “would be better than its predecessor”.

“We must not let history remember us as the architects of a council that was a ‘compromise’ and merely ‘the best we could do’ rather than one that ensured doing ‘all we could do’ to promote human rights,” he said.

The United States opposed the council even though it had led the drive to abolish the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, which has become a stronghold of countries such as Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe trying to protect themselves from international criticism.

To prevent rights-abusers from getting on the new council, the US had wanted members to be elected by a two-thirds majority of the UN General Assembly and to be barred if they were subject to UN sanctions. But the final version required election by only an absolute majority of the General Assembly — a minimum of 96 votes — and did not ban rights violators from seeking a seat.

European nations and leading human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, supported the creation of the council, despite its shortcomings.

They noted that all members of the new body would undergo a human rights review and could be expelled from the council by a two-thirds majority of the UN membership.

In contrast to the annual six-week sessions of the Geneva-based body, the new council will meet at least three times a year for a minimum of ten weeks. It will be able to hold special sessions to address human rights crises, if approved by one third of its members.

European Union nations pledged in a joint statement not to vote for any countries that were subject to rightsrelated UN sanctions.

Despite the US “no” vote, Mr Bolton promised that Washington would “work co-operatively” to make the new council “as strong and effective as it can be”.

“The real test will be the quality of membership that emerges on this council and whether it takes effective action to address serious human rights abuse cases like Sudan, Cuba, Iran, Zimbabwe, Belarus and Burma,” he said.

OFFENDERS

Sudan: In the province of Darfur, government forces and local militia have put thousands of people to death. Each year hundreds are detained without charge on political grounds

Zimbabwe: At least 700,000 people lost their homes in slum clearances last year. Amnesty International implicates state security agents in the torture of members of the political opposition

Cuba: Scores of prisoners of conscience are held in harsh conditions and some are denied medical attention, according to Amnesty International

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