Black Day for Human Rights: UN Poised to Elect China, Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia to Top Rights Council

NEW YORK, - Today at 10:00 am in New York the UN General Assembly will hold an election to choose 14 out of 16 countries running for seats on the 47-nation Human Rights Council.

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UN Watch heads an international coalition of parliamentarians and human rights groups urging nations to oppose the election of Algeria, China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, on the basis of their poor human rights records. Candidates deemed to have questionable credentials, partly due to their record of opposing positive UN resolutions on human rights, are Maldives, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, South Sudan and Uruguay. Only four out of 16 candidate countries were ranked as qualified: France, Macedonia, Mexico, and the UK. Click here for UN Watch’s comprehensive analysis and comment on the elections and on each of the candidates, including quotes by leading human rights dissidents from China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia.