The first session of the UN Human Rights Council opened in Geneva Monday, marking a new era of the world's efforts to improve respect for human rights.

The 47-member new council replaced the former 53-nation Human Rights Commission, which became discredited in recent years for its politicization and ineffectiveness.

"Today we are all part of a historic occasion, the opening of the first session of the Human Rights Council," said UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson.

"At this moment, the UN, through the new Human Rights Council, sends a message of respect of human dignity and a message of hope and solidarity to the peoples of the world," he said.

"Let us be guided by a spirit of renewed cooperation and of upholding the highest standards of human rights," he added.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also addressed the opening meeting, saying that the new Human Rights Council must represent a break from the past.

"The eyes of the world -- especially the eyes of those whose human rights are denied, threatened or infringed -- are turned toward this chamber and this council," Annan told the meeting.

He reminded the council, whose 47 members were chosen for the first time by the General Assembly in May, that they had pledged to "respect human rights at home and uphold them abroad."

"You have much hard work before you," Annan said. "In the weeks and months ahead, as you descend into detail and wrestle with issues at the heart of the council's mandate, I urge you to keep constantly in mind the noble aims that brought you here."

This council will never be allowed to become caught up in political point-scoring or petty maneuver again, he said.

"Think always of those whose rights are denied - whether those rights are civil and political, or economic, social and cultural; whether those people are perishing from brutal treatment by arbitrary rulers, or from ignorance, hunger and disease," he warned.

A host of ministers will also address the council, and much of the initial two-week session will be devoted to planning future work.

Unlike the former Human Rights Commission, which met annually, the council will meet at least three times a year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2006)