UNITED NATIONS - The election yesterday of countries with bad human rights records, including Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia, onto the Human Rights Council brought a torrent of complaints that the United Nations had barely improved upon the discredited Human Rights Commission, which the council replaced.
"It was deeply disappointing to learn that today Cuba was elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council," Senator Coleman, a Republican of Minnesota, said. "The new Human Rights Council is the perfect example of the U.N.'s failure to reform, as it was established to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission where the worst human rights abusers sat in its membership.
"It is ludicrous to believe that an entity where the world's serial human rights abusers are included in the membership will actually be able to play a relevant role in protecting and promoting human rights."
America did not run for a seat on the Geneva-based body, arguing the new council did not represent enough of a change from the Human Rights Commission. Keep reading.
