For anyone who might be actually interested in the facts, instead of MSNBC's distillation of them, the U.S. section of the actual report can be found here. Be sure to check out the report's comments on some other nations as well. Just for fun.

The quote Bowser gives from the article is from the introduction, worth reading from end to end, which also includes some commentary on the U.N. Human Rights Commission:

...An alternative voice for human rights might have come from the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. But in addition to Europe's disappointing role, the commission has been hampered by a perverse incentive system that encourages abusive governments to flock to it for the purpose of weakening it and sparing themselves condemnation.



It is hardly surprising that there are more governments vying for membership on U.N. bodies than there are positions to go around. Particularly in the developing world, most rights-respecting governments seek membership on one of the U.N. bodies that address development issues, hoping to steer additional development funds their way. But for abusive governments, their top priority is avoiding U.N. condemnation. They tend to congregate on the human rights commission. The result is that some two dozen of the commission's fifty-three members are governments with records of indifference if not hostility to human rights.

There is an urgent need to counteract this perverse set of incentives by adopting criteria for commission membership. If governments seek to join the leading U.N. body for promoting human rights, they should be required to show some basic commitment to human rights. That should include, at least, an open invitation for U.N. human rights investigators to enter their country, ratification of the six leading human rights treaties and compliance with their reporting requirements, and a record of not having recently been condemned by the commission. Adopting such criteria should be the top priority of any government interested in enhancing the effectiveness of the commission. It should also be a focus of efforts by the new U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, in addition to his essential role as a high-profile public critic of abusive governments.



Note also the discussion of "Other voices taking up the burden on behalf of the foul United States.