News
Pakistan among 21 candidates for U.N. Human Rights Council
UNITED NATIONS: Twenty-one countries have declared their candidacy to be members of the new U.N. Human Rights Council including Pakistan, Algeria, Ukraine, Peru, Nicaragua and Switzerland, U.N. officials and diplomats said.
Last month, the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to replace the highly politicized and often criticized Human Rights Commission with a new human rights body.
The new council will be elected by the General Assembly on May 9 and hold its first meeting on June 19 in Geneva, where it will be based, just as the commission was.
So far, no country considered a serious human rights offender has announced its candidacy.
Despite Washington's opposition, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton has said the United States will work with other member states ``to make the council as strong and effective as it can be.''
Courtesy Geo