Venezuela, S. Korea, Afghanistan lose vote for UN rights body

Venezuela, South Korea and Afghanistan lost contested races for seats on the top U.N. human rights body yesterday [Macau time] by the General Assembly, which faced criticism for electing countries like Vietnam and Sudan, which have been accused of having abysmal human rights records.

The 193-member assembly voted by secret ballot to fill 14 seats on the 47-member Human Rights Council. Seats are allocated to regions to ensure geographical representation, a rule that has regularly led to many regions putting forward uncontested slates — as Africa, Eastern Europe and Western nations did this year.

Human rights groups have long criticized this practice, saying it denies U.N. member nations any choice of countries on the council and virtually guarantees seats for some countries with poor rights records.

In this year’s election, the most hotly watched race was in the Latin America and Caribbean regional group, where Chile, Costa Rica and Venezuela were vying for two seats. The result saw Chile get 144 votes, Costa Rica 134 and Venezuela 88.

Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director for Human Rights Watch, welcomed this week’s result.