ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 9 2006
UN General Assembly electing human rights council
United Nations, May 9 (Itar-Tass) — The elections of the new UN
agency, a human rights council, have begun at the General Assembly.
Sixty-four states nominated their candidates for 47 seats in the
council.
It was decided to replace the UN Human Rights Commission with the
Human Rights Council at the Summit 2005 last September. In the
opinion of the majority of delegates, the commission was excessively
politicized and failed to meet human rights tasks of the
international community.
The competition will be especially tight amongst East European
candidates, including Russia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Hungary,
Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Ukraine and
the Czech Republic, who aspire for six seats in the council. All in
all, the East European regional group has 22 members.
UN diplomats are readying for several days of multi-round direct and
secret vote. The thing is that a victorious candidate needs no less
than 96 votes of General Assembly delegates. The winners’ office will
be limited to two three-year consecutive terms.
The new council will start working on June 19.
From: Baghdasarian