First Round of UN Human Rights Council Elections Completed

The results of the first round of elections for membership in the 47 seat UN Human Rights Council, presented yesterday night in New York, were not what human rights organizations, as well as several Western governments had hoped for.

Among the countries chosen during the secret balloting, were also China, Russia, Cuba, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which are negatively viewed by the Human Rights Watch organization, since all five of them have had bad records concerning human rights abuses and repressions.

Their election raised questions regarding the credibility of the newly established institution and the efficiency of the reform it is supposed to develop and implement within this field of activity. Countries with similar poor records in matters of human rights, which had applied for membership, like Iran, Azerbaijan, Venezuela and Iraq, failed to win.

Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan and Sudan decided not to apply due to catastrophic markers in human rights enforcement.