The UN General Assembly Tuesday after three rounds of secret
voting elected the 47 members including China of the newly
established Human Rights Council to replace the much criticized and
now defunct Human Rights Commission.
After the first round ballot Tuesday morning all regional groups
-- Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Europe
and other developed nations -- filled their allocated number of
members except Eastern Europe where only Russia, Poland and the
Czech Republic won seats with the other three remaining vacant.
Two more rounds of voting were held in the afternoon with
Azerbaijan, Romania and Ukraine being selected.?
Ghana topped the voting for the 13 African seats which also
included South Africa and Algeria, while India received the most
votes of the 13 Asian seats which also included China, Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia.
Russia received the most votes for the 6 Eastern European seats
in the first round of voting. In fact Eastern Europe witnessed the
fiercest competition with 14 candidate nations competing for just
six seats.
Brazil received the most votes for the eight Latin American and
Caribbean seats, which also included Cuba and Uruguay, while
Germany received the largest number for the seven Western European
seats which included France and the UK.?
After the three rounds of voting General Assembly President Jan
Eliasson drew lots to determine the staggering of terms of the
first 47 members of the Human Rights Council.
Under a resolution adopted by the assembly on March 15 the
members of the new body are banned from immediate re-election after
two successive three-year terms. But it also stipulates that each
year a certain number of the members should be changed.
The results of drawing lots showed that Algeria and 13 other
nations will sit on the new council for one year, Pakistan and 14
other nations for two years and China and 17 other countries for
three years.
The Human Rights Council is scheduled to hold its first meeting
in Geneva on June 19.
The United States was the only permanent member of the Security
Council which did not run for a seat on the Council. The US and
three other countries voted against the March 15 resolution setting
up the body saying that the new organization didn’t go far enough
in its reforms. Nevertheless, the resolution was approved by an
overwhelming majority.
Under the resolution, members of the Human Rights Council should
be elected directly and secretly by the 191-nation assembly and
need the backing of a majority of the assembly's membership or at
least 96 votes.
(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2006)