UNITED NATIONS -- China, Russia and Cuba won seats on the U.N.'s premiere human-rights body Tuesday despite opposition from activist groups over their abysmal human-rights records, but another target, Saudi Arabia, lost.
Russia and Cuba were running unopposed, but China and Saudi Arabia were in a five-way race in the only contested race for seats on the Human Rights Council.
In secret-ballot voting in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on that race, Pakistan received 169 votes, Uzbekistan 164, Nepal 150, China 139 and Saudi Arabia just 90 votes.
Despite announced reform plans by Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch and others strongly opposed its candidacy saying the Middle East nation continues to target human rights defenders, dissidents and women's rights activists and has demonstrated little accountability for past abuses, including the killing of Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two years ago.
Under the Human Rights Council's rules, seats are allocated to regions to ensure geographical representation.
Except for the Asia-Pacific contest, the election of 15 members to the 47-member Human Rights Council was all but decided in advance because all the other regional groups had uncontested slates.
Four countries won four Africa seats: Ivory Coast, Malawi, Gabon and Senegal. Russia and Ukraine won the two East European seats. In the Latin American and Caribbean group, Mexico, Cuba and Bolivia won the three open seats. And Britain and France won the two seats for the Western European and others group.
"Saudi Arabia's failure to win a seat on the Human Rights Council is a welcome reminder of the need for more competition in U.N. elections," Human Rights Watch's U.N. director, Louis Charbonneau, said after the results were announced.
"Had there been additional candidates, China, Cuba and Russia might have lost too," he said.
Charbonneau earlier criticized U.N. member states, including Western nations, saying: "They don't want competition. ... Essentially these are backroom deals that are worked out among the regional groups."
Last week, a coalition of human-rights groups from Europe, the United States and Canada called on U.N. member states to oppose the election of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, saying their human rights records make them "unqualified."
"Electing these dictatorships as U.N. judges on human rights is like making a gang of arsonists into the fire brigade," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Council can spotlight abuses and has special monitors watching certain countries and issues.
Information for this article was contributed by Jamey Keaten of The Associated Press.