Venezuela and Ecuador fail to win seats at UN Human Right Council badly.

Caracas, Venezuela, 21 May 2008. In elections which took place today at the United Nations headquarters in New York, both Venezuela and Ecuador failed to win seats at the Human Rights Council. While Venezuela got 3 votes only, Ecuador received jus one. Such shameful public voting record is usually avoided by an early candidature call off.

The electoral defeat of Venezuela and Ecuador could be due to internal diplomatic blunders and international pressure against their participation in the Human Right dealings after an INTERPOL forensic report suggested links to the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC). Furthermore, both countries have had acrimonious bilateral relations with Colombia after its military forces invaded Ecuador and kill 26 people in a FARC camp. Colombia and Venezuela have threatened each other with the possibility of taking their cases at the International Penal Court or Human Rights international fora.  Ecuador is currently taking international procedures against Colombia.

On this occasion, Chile, Brazil and Argentina managed to secure their seats at the UNHRC. Argentina managed to get 176 votes; Brazil 175 and Chile 172. They will join the UNHRC as off 16 June 2008.   

This 47-seat Human Rights Council replaced -two year ago- the former 53-member Commission on Human Rights Council. Council members are now elected directly and individually by the majority of the 192 States of the General Assembly. Once elected a country can serve for a three year term and is entiltled for another immediate reelection. In order to secure an equitable geographical distribution, seats are allocated into groups. The African and Asian States groups have 13 seats each;  Eastern European States 6 seats; Latin American and Caribbean States 8 seats. Western European and other States just 7.

Sources: UNHRC, Unionradio, Telesur, El Comercio, UN News Centre, Prensa Latina,