The UN General Assembly is set to elect new members to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council today. The vote comes amid strong opposition from civil-society groups to the candidacies of alleged rights violators such as Belarus and Egypt.
At least 16 countries are vying for 14 council seats.
To be elected, a member must be approved by a majority of at least 97 of the General Assembly, in a secret ballot.
The UN Human Rights Council was created in March 2006 to replace the UN Human Rights Commission.
The commission had been discredited because some countries with poor rights records had used their membership to protect one another from condemnation.
But the council has also come in for criticism, most recently when it decided in March to end scrutiny of Iran and Uzbekistan.
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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