Kuwait Challenges Syria for Human Rights Council Seat

Syria has killed as many as 800 protesters recently, but the country could still end up on the UN Human Rights Council.

Proving that there is still some sanity left at the United Nations, diplomats have confirmed that Kuwait will seek to replace Syria as one of four Asian countries expected to fill spots on the UN Human Rights Council. Syria along with India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, had been selected in January to make up the Asian contingent on the council, but that was before President Bashar al-Assad sought to crush an uprising by ordering troops to fire on unarmed civilian demonstrators and presiding over the arrests of thousands. The secret ballot for the Asian bloc will be held on May 20, but observers hope that Assad's regime will get the drift and withdraw its candidacy before then to let Kuwait – a dictatorship itself – represent the Middle East on the council.