GENEVA, April 7 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations human rights spokesman said here Friday that Washington's decision not to run for a seat in the UN Human Rights Council would not weaken the body.
But Luis Diaz, spokesman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), also told a press conference that the U.S. government had promised to give its full support to the UN council.
"We are encouraged by that," he said.
The remarks were made after the United States decided on Thursday to avoid a potentially losing fight for a seat on the new UN Human Rights Council this year, while 42 countries have announced their candidacy, including Cuba and Iran.
Diaz also said that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had expressed his disappointment at the U.S. decision not to run for a seat as had been previously expected.
The spokesman said the OHCHR focused on the latter part of the U.S. statement, which said the U.S. would work actively with the international community to make the council a strong institution.
As an important UN member with a long-term record of human rights promotion, the OHCHR hoped the U.S. would be on the council as soon as possible, he said.
Some 35 countries have so far announced their candidacies for the new council, which will have a total of 47 seats.
The council, a replacement of the former Human Rights Commission, is expected to hold its first meeting in Geneva on June 19.
The 53-member commission had been discredited in recent years because some countries with terrible human rights records had used their membership to protect one another from condemnation. Commission members in recent years included Sudan, Libya, Zimbabwe and Cuba.
A key sticking point during the negotiations was the U.S. insistence that members be elected by two-thirds of the 191-nation General Assembly, a step aimed at keeping out rights abusers.
The U.S. effort failed, and it was decided that members of the new council must be elected only by an absolute majority , 96 member states. Enditem
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