South Sudan has not been successful in its bid for the seat of the UN Human Rights Council.

Overnight, the UN General Assembly in New York elected Algeria, China, Cuba, France, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Macedonia, Viet Nam, Russia, and UK to serve on the rights council.

The UN Human Rights Council is responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.

Last week, a group of South Sudanese and international human rights groups urged South Sudan’s leadership to its improve Human Rights record if it was serious about taking a seat on the Human Rights Council.

The human rights organization – Human Rights Watch – condemned the election of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Vietnam to the council, saying that they are countries with who have consistently denied UN human rights monitors  entry to their countries to investigate alleged abuses.

The Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace the UN’s widely discredited Human Rights Commission.

But the council has faced similar criticism to the commission, with the election of countries with questionable track records in human rights.