US elected to UN human rights council
Published:Tuesday | May 12, 2009 | 5:53 PM
The United States has been elected to sit on the United Nations Human Rights Council for the first time.
The council had been shunned by the Bush administration, which accused it of admitting states with poor rights records and having an anti-Israel bias.
But the Obama administration has reversed its predecessor\'s policy of boycotting the Geneva-based body.
The US was one of 18 countries elected to the 47-seat council in a vote by the UN General Assembly.
It received 167 votes, far more than the 97 votes needed in the secret ballot.
In March, the Obama administration announced that it would be seeking to join the Human Rights Council as part of a broader strategy to create a new era of engagement with the rest of the world.