The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly today to establish a new Human Rights Council which will replace the long-criticized Human Rights Commission. The United States, the world body's most influential member, voted against the Council but said it will work diligently to make the new body as efficient as it can be. The new Council will be the preeminent international human rights watchdog. It will aim to expose human rights abusers and help nations draw up rights legislation.

John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said that despite the "no" vote, the United States will work closely with other member states to make the council as strong and effective as it can. As it stands now, Bolton said, Washington cannot support it. 

"Absent stronger mechanisms for maintaining credible membership, the United States could not join consensus on this resolution," Bolton said. "We did not have sufficient confidence in this text to be able to say that the Human Rights Council will be better than its predecessor.”

Bolton said that the United States will be supportive of efforts to strengthen the council and that it is looking toward serious review of the new institution’s structure and work.

Perhaps A New Suspension Option

Jan Eliasson, the president of the UN General Assembly, created the draft for the council that was approved today, after five-months of intensive consultations with the member states. He repeatedly said that the draft may not be perfect but that nevertheless, it introduces better control mechanisms which were largely absent in the old commission.

”We need to make sure that we consider human rights as serious obligation and if there are serious violations, gross violations of human rights, we are now introducing something absolutely new, namely, a suspension possibility,” Eliasson said.

Bolton said that one of the things that the United States intends to change is the rule that allows a member state to join the council if it gathers a simple majority in the General Assembly, but at the same time requires a two-thirds majority to expel a member accused of gross human rights violations.

Annan Predicts A Strong Council

Many UN member states and major human rights groups share the United States' concerns about the new council. At the same time they refused to reject it outright, fearing that reopening the negotiations or postponing the vote will further damage the United Nations, which has been plagued by allegations of mismanagement, corruption, and sexual abuse.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan repeatedly said that the new council should be established as soon as possible and that any imperfections in its work could be polished later through consultations.

"I think the U.S. has played a good role in human rights. I’m sure it will not do anything that will jeopardize the new council," Annan said. "We will find a way to move forward, and I don’t think that we are going to see the sort of dramatic situation about the Human Rights Council falling apart. It will not fall apart and with the support of all member states we will make it a strong council.”

The council will conduct periodic reviews of the human rights records of all UN member states, beginning with those elected to the council. The recommendations will be binding.