UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Thursday elected 14 states into the Human Rights Council to succeed outgoing members.

Through secret ballot, Libya, Mauritania, Nambia, Sudan (for Africa); Indonesia, Japan, the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Korea (for Asia-Pacific); Armenia, Poland (for Eastern Europe); Brazil, Venezuela (for Latin America and the Caribbean); Germany, the Netherlands (for Western Europe and other states), were elected for a three-year term starting Jan. 1, 2020.

Costa Rica for the Latin America and the Caribbean group; Iraq for the Asia-Pacific group; and Moldova for the Eastern Europe group lost their bids.

Costa Rica, a latecomer in the race, was one vote short of the 97 votes needed for election. Iraq and Moldova, which, although passed the threshold of 97 votes, were outperformed by contenders in their respective groups.

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world. It has 47 members, about a third of which are replaced every year. Enditem