GENEVA, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on Wednesday praised highly the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council, calling it a "momentous" event.

    "The decision of the General Assembly to create the Council is momentous, and it responds to the hope that the global community could come together and create a strong institution at the heart of the international human rights system", Arbour said in a statement.

    She said the new UN human rights body provides "a historic opportunity to improve the protection and promotion of fundamental freedoms of people around the world."

    The UN General Assembly on Wednesday created the new human rights body by an overwhelming majority, ignoring objections from the United States.

    The new body is to replace the 53-nation Geneva-based Human Rights Commission, as part of the reforms of the United Nations.

    According to the high commissioner, the Human Rights Council is more than a "new and improved" Human Rights Commission, the 60-year-old body it is replacing.

    She said in addition to retaining some of the best elements of the Commission, the new body boasts some significant features.

    She said election to the Council would require an absolute majority of UN member States: of the 191 members, at least 96 must support a state's membership by secret ballot.

    "This threshold was much higher than the 28 or fewer votes thatcould get a country membership in the Commission, and would allow countries to block the election of egregious rights violators," she said.

    But Arbour also cautioned against complacency.

    "Adoption of the text is extremely important, but it is only the beginning", she said. "Fulfilling the promise of the Council will require a change of culture as much as institutional transformation."

    She added that countries must demonstrate the political will to put the defense of human rights above narrow interests, otherwise "all the work to create the Council and reaffirm the central role of human rights will have been wasted." Enditem