Amid angry scenes at the commission’s headquarters in Geneva, Libya pulled off a diplomatic coup when Najat al-Hajjaji, its envoy, was voted the chairman by 33 out of the 53 states on the commission.

The United States, Canada and Guatemala voted against Libya in the secret ballot. Seventeen countries, including Britain and most of the other Western nations, abstained. All the African, Asian and Arab states on the body are thought to have voted for Libya.

The United States, which broke with protocol to force the vote, immediately condemned Libya’s victory and was supported by human rights groups, which accused Colonel Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, of an abysmal record in the treatment of his people.

It is feared that the row could seriously hamper the commission’s efforts to promote human rights around the world when it holds its annual meeting in March.

Kevin Moley, the US envoy to the commission, said that he was deeply disappointed by the vote. “The Libyan Government continues to commit serious human rights violations. A country with this record does not merit a leadership role in the UN system,” he said.

In Tripoli, however, the victory was greeted as a vindication of Libya’s attempts to rehabilitate itself in the world. Libya is still subject to UN sanctions because of its alleged role in the Lockerbie bombing.

“It is a shining victory which gives back rights to the oppressed peoples,” Hassuna al-Shawsh, a Libyan Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in Tripoli. “It shows world recognition that Libya has a clean sheet with regard to human rights.”

A spokesman for the US-based Human Rights Watch described Libya’s human rights record over the past three decades as appalling.

Libya has been a dictatorship since Colonel Gaddafi seized power more than three decades ago. Political opponents are arrested and imprisoned without trial. Opposition parties are banned and the authorities keep tight control over the media.

Libya’s victory was masterminded by African states led by South Africa, after heavy lobbying by Colonel Gaddafi over the past year.

It is widely suspected that the Africans voted for Libya after it pledged to finance the newly created African Union, which is supposed to replace the Organisation of African Unity.

British officials defended the decision to abstain, saying that it was done to ensure that commission members were still able to work on global human rights issues. “There has been concern that the commission has been overly politicised,” a British diplomat said.

Last year an anti-racism conference in Durban collapsed when the United States and Israel walked out, complaining that the Arab states had turned the conference into an excuse to attack Israel. The United States was voted off the commission in 2001 in a dispute with the countries of the developing world.

The British Government’s abstention drew criticism at home. Caroline Spelman, the Conservative Party’s spokesman for international development, said: “The Government should have raised serious objections months ago. It’s difficult to see how it the Government can claim to have an ethical foreign policy when it fails to object to Libya chairing the UN Human Rights Commission.”

Tripoli's record

Human Rights Watch claims Libya is guilty of:

• Extrajudicial and summary executions by state agents
• Arbitrary arrests and long-term detention without trial
• The systematic use of torture and other ill-treatment
• Imposition of the death penalty for offences that cannot be characterised as the most serious, including political and economic offences
• Lack of judicial independence
• Continuing inequality between women and men in such areas as inheritance, freedom of movement, nationality and divorce
• Restrictions in law and practice on freedom of expression, including the right to express opposition or criticism of the Government

Explore World News

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Cheney delivers warning to Moscow
• Le tout Paris asks Dati: 'Who's the daddy?
• Palin lawyers are accused of stalling inquiry