The United Nations last night ordered its discredited Human Rights Commission to be shut down in three months and replaced by a new UN Human Rights Council.
A resolution approved without a formal vote by the 54-nation UN Economic and Social Council abolished the Geneva-based rights commission as of June 16th. The commission was first created in February 1946.
The replacement rights council was established by the 191-nation UN General Assembly last week. Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson was High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002.
The 53-nation rights commission had come under fire from Western democracies, human rights groups and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan after a number of rights-abusing nations won seats and began working as a bloc to protect one another from criticism.
Membership on the commission was decided by the Economic and Social Council, and most candidates were put forward by regional groupings and ran without opposition.
President Bush's administration lobbied hard for strong barriers to membership by rights abusers on the new 47-nation council, but in the end decided those barriers were not tough enough.
Many developing nations were critical of the plan for a new rights council, saying Western powers merely wanted to target poor countries and would protect their friends.