But UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed disappointment, saying the proposal failed to include criteria he and some countries had demanded for a strong body to promote and protect human rights.
The United States called for further negotiations.
Agreement on a draft resolution setting up a brand new body - the Human Rights Council - came after negotiators added wording on respecting religion, a bid to address concerns by Islamic countries over the outrage caused by caricatures lampooning the Prophet Mohammed.
The draft calls for individual countries to be elected by the Assembly by a simple majority, lowering the qualification bar below the two-thirds majority that had been proposed by Annan, US Ambassador John Bolton and others.
The draft would also make it difficult to eject a country from the council for human rights violations, however, requiring a two-thirds majority vote.
The new Human Rights Council would replace the current Human Rights Commission, which was selected by a different panel and which allowed countries with severely questionable human rights records - like Cuba and Sudan - to sit on the commission.
The new body to investigate and monitor human rights worldwide would replace the much-criticized UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva and is seen as a key element of UN reforms pushed by the United States and others.
US Ambassador John Bolton, who said the draft resolution does not meet 'high standards' demanded originally by Annan, said it was 'time to consider real international negotiations on the text' to keep human rights violators off the council.
He said that the draft had been cobbled together by Jan Eliasson, the Swedish president of the 191-nation assembly, after months of closed-door negotiations. Bolton cryptically called for 'real negotiations' that would meet US demands.
Annan, however, was more conciliatory.
'Despite the fact that the draft does not reflect everything that I called for when I proposed a new council, there are important elements in it to ensure that the council will be more than a cosmetic change,' Annan said.
Eliasson said the draft was the 'best attempt' to set up the council after months of negotiations. Once approved by the assembly, it is due to take up work in Geneva, hopefully by next month.
Amnesty International reacted in favour, calling on the assembly to immediately adopt the draft.
'This is a historic opportunity that governments must not squander for selfish political interests,' the London-based group said, adding that the Human Rights Council will retain all the basic mandate to address human rights situations.
The draft was distributed to all 191 UN members, but not all of them have had a chance to study it.
The new body's 47 members would include 13 from Africa, 13 from Asia, 6 from Eastern Europe, 8 from Latin American and the Caribbean, 7 from Western Europe and other countries like the US, Canada and Israel.
Member countries would be voted for individually by secret ballot in the General Assembly, and would serve for a maximum of two three- year terms.
In the past, the Human Rights Commission's 53 members were submitted as a complete slate to the Economic and Social Council for approval.
Countries could be removed from the Human Rights Council by a two- thirds majority vote in the General Assembly if they are found committing 'gross and systematic' human rights violations.
The draft says members elected to the council shall uphold 'the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights, and fully cooperate with the council.' Their performance will be periodically reviewed.
Independent human rights investigators hired by the commission would continue their work.
In deference to demands by Islamic states, the draft resolution says that governments, the media and regional groups should promote tolerance and respect for religion and belief.
Islamic groups had demanded specific language to fight defamation of religions and 'prophets and beliefs.' The final draft avoided such direct reference, preferring a general call for tolerance and respect for religions. <!--page-->
Their demands were prompted by caricatures of the Islamic prophet Mohammed that appeared last year in a Danish daily newspaper and have been reprinted in a number of countries, provoking violent and lethal protests across the Muslim world.
The draft says the work of the council will be guided by principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non- selectivity in the promotion and protection of human rights.
Annan said the council will 'better reflect the universality of human rights' and will be more transparent and legitimate in its decisions.
'This approach will strengthen and help to improve the human rights work of the organization as a whole,' he said.
The General Assembly is dominated by large voting groups of developing nations whose views have often clashed with those of Western states.
Another key voting bloc in the assembly is the Arab and Islamic group, which has had a major influence in the passage of dozens of condemnations of Israel.
