UNITED NATIONS - Belarus was defeated for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday after a campaign by the United States, key European countries and human rights groups critical of the country's repressive rights record.

But Egypt, Angola and Qatar easily won seats on the council despite opposition from groups noting human rights violations in those countries.

Steve Crawshaw of Human Rights Watch hailed Bosnia's victory over Belarus as "an important signal to the future that abusive governments" will not be acceptable as council members.

The Human Rights Council was created in March 2006 to replace the discredited and highly politicized Human Rights Commission, and one aim was to keep some of the worst human rights offenders out of its membership. But it has been widely criticized in its first year for continuing many of the commission's practices, including putting much more emphasis on Israel than any other country.

In the first round of voting, the 192-member U.N. General Assembly elected 12 of 14 new members to the 47-member council. The slates for African, Asian, and Latin American seats were uncontested, and all candidates topped the minimum 97 votes needed.

Bosnia fell two votes short in the first round, with 95 votes, but easily defeated Belarus by a vote of 112-72 in the second round.

Initially, there were two candidates for two East European seats - Belarus and Slovenia - but diplomats said the U.S., Britain and France, who strongly opposed Belarus, pressed for Bosnia to enter the race.

The United States has refused to run for a council seat, but U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad congratulated the winners, saying he was "particularly heartened by the election of Bosnia."

"We are particularly concerned about Belarus. Some have called it the last dictatorship in Europe and to have Bosnia elected beside Slovenia … is heartening," he said.

Belarus's ambassador to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

The Geneva-based council is composed of regional groups that give dominance to Africa and Asia, each with 13 countries. Western Europe and North America together are represented by seven countries.

Countries elected for the African group were Madagascar, South Africa, Angola and Egypt. In the Asia group, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Qatar were elected. For Latin America, Nicaragua and Bolivia won enough votes. Denmark and Italy tied in the first round but Italy won the seat in the second round by a vote of 101-86.

Last year, the council adopted eight resolutions criticizing Israel for its military actions in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. The only other country to be criticized was Sudan. Censure by the council brings no penalties beyond international attention, but countries lobby hard to avoid scrutiny.

Before the vote, General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa asked members to consider the human rights records of the candidates.

Nineteen human rights and other groups appealed to the General Assembly on Monday not to accept Egypt because the government's record "is full of serious human rights violations that have been practiced widely for long years."

A statement from the group alleged that Egypt condones police torture, arbitrary detention, trying civilians before military tribunals, and the rigging of elections.

Earlier this month, a report by two watchdog groups, U.N. Watch and Freedom House, said Angola, Belarus, Egypt and Qatar "are authoritarian regimes with negative U.N. voting records (on rights issues) and are not qualified to be council members."