MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina, Uruguay in new UN Human Rights Council

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Cuba are among Latin American countries elected to the newly-created United Nations Human Rights Council, which will replace the Geneva-based Human Rights Commission.

The election for the council began on Tuesday morning with 64 countries competing for 47 available seats distributed among U.N.'s five geographic regions. Argentina received 158 votes; Uruguay, 141; Cuba, 135 and the other Latin American nations which also received the necessary votes include: Brazil (165), Ecuador (128), Guatemala (142), Mexico (154) and Peru (145). Venezuela and Nicaragua were unable to garner sufficient support.

The new U.N. body was created by the General Assembly last March 15 with the purpose of monitoring and guaranteeing respect for human rights around the world.

General Assembly president Jan Eliasson said that the elected countries "will play a crucial role" in deciding how the new entity will function. The Council replaced the politicized and discredited Human Rights Commission, based in Geneva, which was created in 1946.

The election of the members for the now defunct Commission was more restrictive, with only the 54 members of the international organization's Economic and Social Council voting on the body's makeup.

The head of the non-governmental Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, noted the "different atmosphere" in which the new Council's election was held.

He also congratulated the United Nations on the fact that the number of member countries with histories of human rights deficiencies had been reduced on the new body.

"It's really a significant advance," he said, adding that the governments that undermine human rights were now a minority on the Council.

Roth said that Venezuela and Iran had failed in their attempts to gain seats on the Council, but regretted the fact that Cuba, Russia, China and Saudi Arabia had managed to get sufficient votes.

Germany received the most votes for the 7 Western European and Other States region, which included France and the United Kingdom.

Member countries on the new Council can be suspended from the body if, during their membership, they commit systematic human rights violations.

Once the full 47 members of the Council are confirmed, it is scheduled to hold its first meeting in Geneva on 19 June.

The United States was among only four countries that voted against setting up the Human Rights Council in a resolution in March that passed with 170 countries in favour and three abstentions, with the US saying that the new body does not go far enough in its reforms.

Despite its ?no' vote however, US Ambassador John Bolton has pledged that Washington will work cooperatively with other Member States to make the Council as effective as possible.