May 21, Colombo: Sri Lanka failed secure enough votes to win a seat in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) at the UN General Assembly in New York today.

Sri Lanka received 101 votes while Japan with 155 votes, Bahrain with 142 votes, South Korea with 139 votes and Pakistan 114 votes were elected to the 47-member council.

Four Asian countries were to be selected in the process to elect 15 members to the council. East Timor was the other contender voted out receiving only 92 votes.

A few days ago, Three Noble laureates, former US President Jimmy Carter, South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel from called on the United Nations to reject Sri Lanka's candidacy for the UNHRC, UN's leading human rights body.