UNITED NATIONS, May 9 (UPI) -- Known human rights abusers China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba have been made members of the United Nations' newly established Human Rights Council.
Seeking a clean break from the discredited Human Rights Commission, the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday elected the council's 47 members, saddling them with the task of establishing a thorough and effective rights body.
"This is a truly historic occasion," said General Assembly President Jan Eliasson. "We are establishing the new council as a basis with... the legitimacy needed for the very important work of human rights."
Constituents, which were chosen by majority vote -- at least 96 votes in the 191-member assembly -- and can serve a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms, included: China, a nation that has prosecuted journalists and violently cracked down on recent rural uprisings; Cuba, a communist regime and outspoken defender of rights abusers; Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden to drive and show their ankles in public; and Russia, a democracy in retreat that has seen several journalists killed in recent years.
"There are a number of governments that did get elected that we would prefer not to be there, but this was almost inevitable," said Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth. "Spoiler governments... are now a significantly reduced minority."
Because of more stringent membership requirements and a rights review process, "spoilers" such as Sudan, Libya, Zimbabwe and Syria chose not to run for membership. Neither did the United States, which believed the membership bar still too low and voted against establishing the council.
Africa and Asia, were allotted 13 seats each; Latin America and the Caribbean, 8; Western Europe and others, 7; and Eastern Europe, 6.
