Israel slams election of Venezuela, Libya to UN rights council

Venezuela wins a contested election for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council despite a campaign by over 50 organizations and many countries opposed to Nicolas Maduro’s government and its rights record.

There is scattered applause in the General Assembly chamber as its president announced the results of the voting for two Latin American seats. Brazil topped the ballot with 153 votes followed by Venezuela with 105 votes and late entry Costa Rica with 96 votes.

The 193-member world body elected 14 members to the 47-member Human Rights Council for three-year terms starting January 1. Under its rules, seats are allocated to regions to ensure geographical representation.

Africa had four countries on the ballot —Benin, Libya, Mauritania and Sudan — for four seats. But when General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande announces the results the winners were Namibia, Libya, Mauritania and Sudan, with Benin getting just one vote.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, slams the election of Venezuela and Libya to the body.

“The Human Rights Council continues to abandon human rights and is now in the business of protecting dictators and war crimes. In Venezuela, a dictator starves his people, and in Libya there are camps that torture African migrants,” he says in a statement.

“These countries are added to the Council’s ‘moral leadership,’ as the body no longer hides its obsessive hostility to Israel, and legitimizes those who blatantly violate and act against its original mandate,” he adds.

— with AP