GENEVA - Members of the U.N.'s new human rights watchdog formally agreed Tuesday to continue their scrutiny of Israel while halting investigations into Cuba and Belarus - a move that immediately drew fire from the United States.
The decision was part of a package of reforms adopted by the members of the Human Rights Council to change how it conducts its work, including how and when to launch investigations into some of the world's worst rights offenders.
The council, which was formed last year to replace the discredited U.N. Human Rights Commission, passed the compromise package despite objections from Canada over plans to continue singling out Israel for scrutiny by the global body.
The European Union, which played a key role in the talks, said before the meeting that it remained to be seen how the council can perform on the basis of the agreement.
"The package is certainly not ideal, but we have a basis we can work with," said Ambassador Michael Steiner of Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency. "The package must prove its value in practice."
The United States - which is only an observer to the 47-nation body - has been skeptical of the council since its inception.
Warren Tichenor, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said the reforms approved by the members "raise serious questions about the institutional priorities of the Human Rights Council."
Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the accord was disappointing because the council had failed to ensure that it would be "non-selective and impartial."
"It is not a bright day for the protection of human rights," Levanon said, adding that the agreement "perpetuates the immoral fixation on Israel."
Rights groups were also skeptical about the agreement.
"The decision presents a floor for the council's work, but a great deal more needs to be built," said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director for the New York-based Human Rights Watch. She said the agreement "gives leeway to countries that seek to weaken human rights protections."
The council's members had negotiated for a year on the ground rules for how it will operate over the next four years, but last-minute demands by China threatened to scuttle negotiations.
China had demanded that two-thirds of the council's members - rather than the current simple majority - agree before an expert is appointed to make a special investigation of alleged rights violations in a country.
It only dropped its objections after the council's outgoing president, Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, engaged members in 14 hours of tense talks, eventually presenting the meeting with an updated compromise noting that resolutions against a country should have "the broadest possible support" - preferably co-sponsored by at least 15 member countries - before being considered.
Among the other changes was the establishment of a "universal periodic review" mechanism under which all countries will have their rights record examined regularly.
The new agreement also removes two mandates given to U.N.-appointed rights experts to examine the records of Cuba and Belarus, a move strongly criticized by non-governmental organizations, the United States and some European countries. The U.S. accuses Cuba of numerous rights violations, including the jailing of critics and limits on speech.
Nine other expert mandates, including on Haiti, Somalia, Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, North Korea and the Palestinian territories, will continue.
An influential Cuban-American member of Congress, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said she would seek to halt U.S. funding to the council because of the "hopelessly flawed" rules exempting Cuba and Belarus and targeting Israel.
"To its shame, the U.N. Human Rights Council celebrated its first birthday by giving gifts to Fidel Castro, the authoritarian regime in Belarus and the enemies of the democratic state of Israel," said Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In Havana, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque called it "a historic victory in the fight of our people for justice."
The decision ends "the anti-Cuban practice that the United States created solely as a pretext to maintain and exacerbate the political genocide that are its blockade and aggressions against Cuba," he said. Washington's 45-year-old embargo chokes off nearly all U.S. commerce with Cuba.
The large Muslim and African groups which dominate the council had lobbied hard to minimize the scope for naming and shaming countries over their human rights records, but make an exception for Israel, the only government explicitly criticized so far by the body. Censure by the council brings no sanctions beyond international scrutiny.
The new agreement contains an agenda for future council meetings that provides for regular discussions of "human rights violations and implications of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and other occupied Arab territories."
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Associated Press writers Ken Guggenheim in Washington, Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva and Audra Ang in Beijing contributed to this report.
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