Credibility Issue
Almost half of the 47 members of the United Nations' Human Rights Council are not "free democracies" (according to Freedom House rankings), and several, such as China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia, have been widely criticized as human rights violators. Consequently, the council has failed to address any of the most prominent rights abuses around the world (including some that were called genocide) in Sudan, North Korea, Chad, Zimbabwe and Iran, among other places, but in January, the council voted its 12th "condemnation" of Israel (out of only 13 condemnations it has ever issued). [Wall Street Journal, 1-29-08]