The United States voted against the new panel, arguing the reform did not go far enough. But its UN ambassador pledged to work with the new Human Rights Council, approved by a 170-4 vote in the UN General Assembly after weeks of wrangling.
Venezuela, Iran and Belarus abstained, while Marshall Islands and Palau joined the US and Israel in voting 'no.'
The new 47-nation council will replace the UN Human Rights Commission, long criticized for giving membership and a platform to countries accused of serious abuses, such as Sudan and Cuba. Like its predecessor, the new panel will meet in Geneva.
US Ambassador John Bolton said 'we cannot say the Human Rights Council will be better than its predecessor.'
But, he said, 'we will work cooperatively with other members to make the council a strong and effective body as it can be.'
Repeated US demands for stronger criteria for admission into the council were rejected. At the end, the US felt its opposition would be overturned by the majority of UN members and did not try to stop the vote.
News reports said the US will not oppose the planned starting budget of 4.5 million dollars for the Human Rights Council, of which it will have to pay 22 per cent under UN budget rules.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who agreed with the US for a strong new rights panel, warned that the council will have to prove its credibility.
'If, in the weeks and months ahead, it acts on the commitments given by the resolution, I am confident the council will breathe new life into all our work for human rights and thereby help to improve the lives of millions of people throughout the world,' Annan said.
Jan Eliasson, the Swedish president of the assembly, who rejected new negotiations on the draft, said the Human Rights Council will strengthen three pillars supporting the UN: development, peace and security and human rights.
'Without strength in all (three), we have strength in none,' said Eliasson, who has called the proposal approved Wednesday the 'best attempt' to represent the divergent views of UN members.
Eliasson rejected new negotiations, saying that would open a Pandora's box.
Islamic countries have demanded stronger language to ban criticism of Islam and its Prophet Mohammed following the publications of caricatures satirizing the Prophet Mohammed by a Danish daily last year. Their demands were also rejected.
Annan and the US demanded that member countries on the new rights body be admitted by two-thirds of the UN General Assembly, or 126 votes. That was whittled down to approval by half the assembly's 191 members, or 96 votes, during the negotiations.
Members can be ejected from the Human Rights Council by a two- thirds majority of voting assembly members if they fail to uphold human rights.
Both Sudan and Cuba voted for the new council. But Cuba said its 'yes' vote was to derail US efforts at imposing its will on the Human Rights Council. If it had voted against, like the US, Cuba said it would be following the 'US double standards' on human rights.
The new panel's broad mission is to promote and protect the highest standards of human rights. Members are pledged to regularly review human rights in all countries in the world, including their own. Their performance will be subjected to peer review.
The 47 members will come from all regions in the world: 13 from Africa, 13 from Asia, six from East Europe, eight from Latin America and the Caribbean and seven from Western Europe and others, including the US and Canada.
The new Human Rights Council is backed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International among other civil society organizations. It also was endorsed by at least 13 Nobel Peace laureates, including former US president Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias.
