This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8046676.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| US elected to UN rights council | US elected to UN rights council |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The United States has been elected to a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the first time. | The United States has been elected to a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the first time. |
| The council had been shunned by the Bush administration, which accused it of admitting states with poor rights records and having an anti-Israel bias. | The council had been shunned by the Bush administration, which accused it of admitting states with poor rights records and having an anti-Israel bias. |
| But the Obama administration has reversed its predecessor's policy of boycotting the Geneva-based body. | But the Obama administration has reversed its predecessor's policy of boycotting the Geneva-based body. |
| The US was one of 18 countries elected to the 47-seat council in a vote by the UN General Assembly. | The US was one of 18 countries elected to the 47-seat council in a vote by the UN General Assembly. |
| It received 167 votes, far more than the 97 votes needed in the secret ballot. | It received 167 votes, far more than the 97 votes needed in the secret ballot. |
| The Obama administration announced in March that it would be seeking to join the Human Rights Council as part of a broader strategy to create a "new era of engagement" with the rest of the world. | |
| Previously, the US government had accused the council of being hijacked by countries with a strong bias against Israel, and had criticised it for its failure to condemn perceived human rights violations by the Sudanese government in Darfur. | |
| A number of countries whose human rights records have been criticised by the US - including Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia - are also represented on the council. | |
| The council was set up in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights, which had also been dogged by accusations of anti-Israeli prejudice. |