Killer countries at the Human rights council

Under pressure from fellow UN member states, Syria dropped plans to run for a seat on the top UN human rights body and allowed Kuwait to replace it as a candidate.

Another Western diplomat told Reuters that Syria’s withdrawal and Kuwait’s candidacy is “great news.”

The 192-nation UN General Assembly will hold its annual elections for one third of the seats on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council on May 20.

The council is the main UN body charged with monitoring member states’ compliance with international human rights norms. Critics say it spends too much time bashing Israel while ignoring violations by countries like Sri Lanka, Bahrain, China, Russia and others.

But Syria’s violent crackdown against anti-government protesters prompted some Western, Arab and Asian UN member states to suggest that Damascus should not be on the rights body when it was facing accusations of gross violations, Western envoys said.

Had Syria won a seat on the council, it would have followed other states accused of human rights abuses by rights watchdog groups including China, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya is a member of the rights council, but the General Assembly suspended its membership rights in response to its violent crackdown this year against anti-government demonstrators that sparked a civil war.