Syria is bidding for a place on the United Nations Human Rights Council, it was revealed Thursday, despite the UN’s human rights chief saying only days ago the country should be referred to the International Criminal Court because of abuses.

More than 15,000 people have been killed in a 16-month crackdown on protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, but Syria is almost certain to be elected to the council if it applies because of the voting rules.

Amnesty International has claimed the government may be guilty of crimes against humanity and this week Human Right Watch said the Assad regime was running a string of torture centres around the country where civilians were beaten and sexually abused.

Even UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said this week, “In my view, both government forces and armed opponents have been involved in actions harming civilians,” as she called for the Syrian situation to be referred to the International Criminal Court.

Despite the condemnation — echoed by many Western countries — a draft resolution to the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) reveals Syria’s intention to bid for a seat.

The U.S. and European resolution condemns Syria for its human rights abuses, extra-judicial killings and atrocities committed by the government-controlled shabiha militia.

The “Syrian government’s announced candidacy for the Human Rights Council in 2014 fails to meet the standards for Council membership,” it adds.

Russia, China, and Cuba, close allies of Syria, have called for the paragraph to be deleted, saying the reference was untimely and out of place, said UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights group.

In a statement, UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said, “We urge the U.S. and the EU to resist the pressure by Syria’s allies, and not to water down their proposed council statement opposing the candidacy of a tyrant and mass murderer.”

In an opinion piece for the National Post online, Mr. Neuer said, “As part of the UN’s 53-nation Asian group, Syria’s candidacy would be virtually assured of victory due to the prevalent system of fixed slates, by which regional groups orchestrate uncontested elections by naming only as many candidates as allotted seats.

“That’s how non-democracies like China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia won their current seats, and how Pakistan and Venezuela are about to do the same.”

Last November, Syria won unanimous election to two human rights committees of UNESCO, the UN’s Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization.

B’nai Brith Canada, a Jewish advocacy group, condemned the candidacy of a “blood-soaked regime.”

The group said UNHRC shields and rewards the world’s worst human rights abusers, while chastizing beacons of democracy and freedom, such as Canada, the U.S., and Israel.

In a statement, Frank Dimant, head of B’nai Brith Canada, said, “Yet again the UNHRC has displayed its systematic hypocrisy, as the UN body, formulated to advance human rights internationally, continues to chip away at any scrap of legitimacy it holds with its constant, seemingly institutional defiance of logic.

“Close to 16,000 people have been murdered as the Assad regime clings to power at any cost, and yet, the Council still allows amongst its ranks the world’s worst human rights abuser today. If the Council’s previous actions have not yet proven the biased agenda of the UN body, Syria’s official candidacy must stand as conclusive evidence.” (© 2012 National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. 07/06/12)