New York - The United States won a seat on the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday after President Barack Obama reversed a policy that had kept the country out of the controversial body.

The US received 167 votes in the election in the UN General Assembly, which has a total of 192 members. The assembly also elected 17 other countries to three-year terms on the 47-member council, which is based in Geneva.

Former president George W Bush refused to support the council in 2006 when it was established, claiming that election rules could not keep countries with bad human rights records from winning seats on the council.

Obama last month reversed that policy and announced the US intention to run for a seat.

"We ran because this administration and the American people are deeply committed to the values of human rights," US Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after the vote at UN headquarters in New York.

Rice said the US will work from within to improve the council.

"We have not been perfect ourselves, but we intend to lead based on the strong principles and visions of the American people about respecting human rights, supporting democracy," Rice said.

Some countries were re-elected for a further three-year terms. They included China, which received 167 votes, Cuba (163 votes), Mexico (175 votes), Jordan (178 votes), Russia (146 votes) and Saudi Arabia (154 votes).

Since it began work in Geneva in 2006, the council has been criticized for undue attention to the Israel-Palestinian conflict because of the great number of Islamic countries on the body. It was also feared that the council could not improve on failures by the previous UN Commission on Human Rights.

Some non-governmental organizations devoted to the protection and promotion of human rights said Islamic countries still dominate the 47-nation council. They feared that the United States might be isolated in the council because of votes from Islamic countries and others opposed to US policies around the world.

The US ran for one of three vacant seats designated for "Western European and other states". Belgium and Norway, the other candidates, also easily won their seats.