China's inclusion to UNHRC likened to 'fox guarding chickens'

China is almost certain to be elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council, despite evidence of a worsening human rights record across the country.

On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly will elect 17 new member states to the 47-member council.

The role of the council is to promote universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, Sky News reports.

Since President Xi Jinping took office in March, his government has made no secret of its widespread and concerted effort to crack down on dissent.

Activists, journalists and well-established dissidents have been rounded up and detained in record numbers.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch, said that electing China as a world judge on human rights would be like asking the fox to guard the chickens.

China's government has argued that it has improved the collective human rights of its people by pulling so many millions out of poverty over the past three decades, the report added.

.