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China re-elected to UN Human Rights Council

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-13 08:28

UNITED NATIONS - China on Tuesday was re-elected for a three-year term to the 47-member UN Human Rights Council.

China's re-election victory was contained in the result of the election of 18 members of the UN human rights body at the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly.

The 63rd session of the 83rd Planary meeting of the UN General Assembly is held at the UN headquarters in New York, the US May 12, 2009. Eighteen UN members were elected to the UN Human Rights Council during the meeting on Tuesday. China won 167 favorable votes from the 191 member states present, winning another three-year term in the Council from 2009 to 2012. [Xinhua]

Following one round of secret ballot on Tuesday morning, China won 167 favorable votes from the 191 member states present, winning another three-year term in the Council from 2009 to 2012.

Since China was elected as an founding member of the Council in 2006, it has made remarkable achievements in the field of human rights and fulfilled the pledges and commitments made during its last campaign for membership of the Council, a spokesman with the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations said.

"China contributed a lot to the institution-building of the Council, and has undertaken its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) with an open and frank attitude and in a highly responsible manner, "the spokesman told Xinhua.

Before re-election to the Human Rights Council, the Chinese government made solemn commitments on promotion and protection of human rights by presenting another aide-memoire of the pledges and commitments to the United Nations, the spokesman said.

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On April 13, China published its first working plan on human rights, the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010), pledging to further protect and improve human rights conditions.

This action made China one of 26 countries that have responded to the United Nations' call to establish a national human rights plan since 1993.

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, which is the major United Nations body working to promote and protect human rights, was set up by the General Assembly on March 15, 2006, to replace and build upon the achievements of the 60-year-old Commission on Human Rights.

The members of the Council are elected by a secret ballot in the General Assembly and must receive at least 97 votes of the Assembly's 192 countries. Members serve for a period of three years and shall not be eligible for immediate re-election after two consecutive terms.

In 2007, the Council established a UPR to assess human rights situations in all 192 member states of the United Nations every four years.

The UPR reviewed China's human rights record in February this year, acknowledging China's efforts in human rights protection, especially its progress in promoting the right to development and poverty reduction.

Besides China, the other 17 countries elected to the Council are Cameroon, Djibouti, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Bangladesh, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Russia Federation, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, Belgium, Norway and the United States.

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