"I'm very grateful for this support, and I hope we will move closer to taking a decision on this ortant matter," he said according to the Washington Post.

The European Union has backed a plan to strengthen the UN's work on human rights through the launch of a Human Rights Council - but Britain has warned the new body risks isolating the Americans.

The EU's support for a UN Human Rights Council became known on Wednesday (1 March).

Unlike the current UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the new Council would be required to review on a periodic basis the human rights records of all countries, beginning with its members.

The Americans are opposed to the idea of replacing the existing commission in Geneva with a new council.

EU consent with the council was only achieved after British reluctance to isolate the Americans had been overcome.

Britain's UN ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, told Reuters that Europeans, while supporting the draft, also recognised "that adopting that text without United States support isn't good for human rights and it's not particularly good for the council."

The existing Geneva Commission has been criticised for allowing some of the worst human rights abusers to use their membership to protect one another from condemnation.

UN welcomes EU support
President of the UN General Assembly Jan Eliasson said the EU's backing was "very good news."

"I'm very grateful for this support, and I hope we will move closer to taking a decision on this important matter," he said according to the Washington Post.

Mr Eliasson, a Swedish diplomat heading the UN general assembly since September 2005, is still consulting with member states over the blueprint to set up the Human Rights Council.

He told reporters that he hoped to see it agreed upon "as soon as possible" and preferably before the Commission is due to open its annual session on 13 March.

The proposal would reduce membership from 53 members to 47 and distribute seats among regions: 13 for Africa, 13 for Asia, 6 for Eastern Europe, 8 for Latin America and the Caribbean and 7 for a bloc of mainly Western countries, including the United States and Canada.

Members of the new Council would be elected by a majority of all the 191 members of the UN General Assembly.

States that are elected must rotate every two terms, allowing the US, which has been a member of the Commission every term since 1947, with one exception, only to be eligible for Council membership every six years.

Source:www.EUobserver.com

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