US Convincing UN Members Not To Elect Venezuela To Human Rights Council - Senior Official

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2019) The United States is trying to convince United Nations members to not elect Venezuela to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Roger Carstens told reporters on Friday.

"We are doing everything we can to talk to other countries to try to convince them that it would at UNHRC best interests," Carstens said. "We do not want former [Venezuela President Nicolas] Maduro regime to get a seat on the Council."

Next week, the UN General Assembly will elect 14 new members to the UN Human Rights Council.

Venezuela competes with Brazil and Costa Rica to get one of the two available seats for Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Carstens accused the Venezuelan government of significant human rights violations and expressed hope the country will not be elected to the UNHCR.

In September, UNHRC announced its experts will head to Venezuela to probe reports of extrajudicial executions and torture there.