The United States said Friday it will spearhead a campaign to promote competitive elections for the UN Human Rights Council to keep rights violators like Cuba from winning seats as part of a new effort to reform the United Nations. Joseph Torsella, the US ambassador for UN management and reform, said members of the organization's top human rights body should be held to the same standard it promotes around the world. “Abusers of international law or norms should not be the public face of the UN” he said. The proposed reforms come as the US presidential campaign heats up. Many of the UN's operations, its resolutions criticizing Israel, and the membership of the Human Rights Council have come under attack from some Republicans, especially Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Relations Commission. Currently, elections to the Human Rights Council and many other UN bodies are controlled by regional groups that often put forward uncontested slates. In 2010, seven countries accused of human rights violations, including Libya, Angola and Malaysia, won seats on the Human Rights Council in uncontested elections. In 2011, Syria was a candidate for an uncontested Asian seat, but it withdrew after the US and the European Union lobbied UN members against voting “yes” for a country that was cracking down on civilian protesters.
