UNITED NATIONS, March 7: The UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson said on Monday that he is ‘encouraged’ by support for the proposed Human Rights Council from five Nobel Peace Prize laureates and is continuing ‘intensive consultations’ to get agreement over the body put forward to replace the much-criticized Human Rights Commission.

The United States rejection of the draft on Human Rights Council and its insistence that the draft be reopened and renegotiated will kill the creation of the new human rights body, most diplomats here said.

“If the Americans think that they can introduce amendments so can other nations and the HRC proposal will not see the light of the day,” said one diplomat.