Human rights organizations and the United States have declared that the United Nations Human Rights Council elections on Friday gave violent countries a seat at a table where they should be called, while nations such as the Philippines and Eritrea have won undisputed elections.

Eighteen countries, from India to the Bahamas to Denmark, were selected in a vote at the United States General Assembly.

In the absence of competition, each candidate has far exceeded the required 97 votes, including the Philippines, widely condemned internationally for a deadly crackdown on drugs, and Eritrea, which was the subject of criticism from a commission created by the council itself.

"The rise in the number of states that record gross violations of human rights and human rights violations is a huge setback," said Daniel Balson, Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA. "This puts them on the world stage and also allows them to fundamentally undermine the internationally accepted notions of human rights."

US Ambassador Nikki Haley said "the lack of standards continues to undermine the organization and demonstrates once again why the US was right to withdraw" in June.

US missions to Eritrea and the Philippines did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding voting and criticism. The mission of Eritrea has tweeted that the Horn of Africa nation "will work for a strengthened and (a) effective dialogue" at the Council on Human Rights.

Meanwhile, US officials have declined to comment on the results of the vote, but have suggested that all members of the board be open to scrutiny of their own human rights treatment.

"It is clear that the world expects members of international organizations to conform to certain norms of behavior consistent with the instances for which they have been elected," said Monica Grayley, spokesperson for the president of the organization. the General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces.

The Human Rights Council, composed of 47 members, can highlight abuses and special observers monitor certain countries and problems. It also periodically reviews human rights in each member country of the United Kingdom.

Created in 2006 to replace a discredited commission because of the poor rights of some members, the new council was soon faced with similar criticisms. The United States left partly because they saw the group as a platform for hypocrisy in human rights, but also because Washington says the council is anti-Israel.

The Philippines will join the coalition at a time when President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs has left more than 4,800 suspects, mostly poor, dead in clashes with the police, according to government accounts. advocacy groups say the balance sheet is much higher. More than 155,000 others were arrested during the two-year campaign, which alarmed Western governments, US groups and human rights organizations.

Duterte denied endorsing unlawful killings by police in the war on drugs, although he repeatedly threatened the death of drug traffickers.

Eritrea has not conducted a presidential election since independence in 1993, and human rights groups have long accused the country of having a very tough military conscription system that has many citizens to flee. An American commission of inquiry in recent years has found widespread violations of human rights, including forced labor. The government said the allegations were unfounded and biased.

Eritrea has recently concluded a peace agreement with neighboring Ethiopia after decades of war and unease, but it remains to be seen whether the conscription system will change.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups also raised red flags on some other countries elected to the council on Friday, including Bahrain and Cameroon.

Bahrain represses his dissent. In Cameroon, human rights activists claim that civilians have been abused in clashes between English-speaking separatists and government security forces, and that thousands of people fleeing violence have been killed. They could not have voted in Sunday's presidential election.

United States missions in Bahrain and Cameroon did not immediately respond to inquiries on Friday.

The new board members based in Geneva also include Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Fiji, the Czech Republic, Italy, Somalia, Togo and Uruguay.