http://cnsnews.com/news/article/democracies-silent-un-human-rights-council-elects-country-where-slavery-exists
"(CNSNews.com) – The U.N.’s top human rights body marked Human Rights Day on Monday by electing three countries with poor human rights records as vice presidents for the coming year – including one of the last remaining countries where slavery exists.
At a meeting in Geneva, members of the U.N. Human Rights Council elected Mauritania, the Maldives and Ecuador as three of its four vice presidents for 2013. Switzerland got the fourth vice-presidential slot, while Poland was elected president.
According to U.N. Watch, a non-governmental organization that monitors the HRC, none of the democracies on the HRC had “said a word about the election of Mauritania or Ecuador.”
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Ruled by a former military coup leader, Mauritania is a North African Islamic state where conversion to another faith is punishable by death. The country’s criminal code provides for a three-day period of reflection and repentance for any Muslim found guilty of apostasy. “If he does not repent within this time limit,” it states, “he is to be condemned to death as an apostate and his property will be confiscated by the Treasury.”
Homosexual acts also carry the death penalty in Mauritania.
Slavery of black Africans has been rooted in Mauritanian society for centuries According to activists, up to 18 percent of the population may still be in slavery today.........."