NEW YORK - Sri Lanka yesterday lost its bid for re-election to the United Nations' Human Rights Council - a likely recognition by the international community of rampant and ongoing human rights abuses in the country.
However, Pakistan, Bahrain, Gabon and Zambia - all countries with poor records - were among 15 nations that won three-year terms on the Geneva-based council.
Twenty countries from five regions were vying for the 15 seats.
France and Britain narrowly defeated Spain for the open European seats, a race that was something of a tossup for the gentleness of the campaigns and nearly indistinguishable voting records.
Slovakia and Ukraine won over the Czech Republic and Serbia for the two available seats reserved for Eastern Europe.
To the chagrin of rights advocates and the United States, who maintain that all members should be elected by the 192-member world body, the African and Latin American regions nominated only as many candidate countries as they had seats to fill.
That meant Africa will be represented by Zambia, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Ghana; Latin America and the Caribbean by Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
Sri Lanka, whose government is engaged in an increasingly violent war with well-armed rebel groups, was defeated for an Asian seat by South Korea, Japan, Bahrain and Pakistan.
"Sri Lanka's defeat is a victory for the Human Rights Council," said Lawrence Moss, special counsel to Human Rights Watch. "Because member states enforced the membership standards they established two years ago by rejecting re-election for a country whose rights record has so seriously deteriorated."
The Human Rights Council dispatches lawyers and other rights experts to evaluate how well countries are meeting various human rights commitments, such as independence of the judiciary and the press, protections for minorities and women, and freedom of religion. It is technically independent of the United Nations, but attached to the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
