The UN's newest candidate to sit on the Human Rights Council is led by an African strongman accused of genocide by the world body's top war crimes court.

Sudan, led by President Omar al-Bashir,  is set to join what the UN bills as its foremost arbiter of human rights abuses, in just the latest absurd example of the a UN selection process that repeatedly places rogue states in global leadership positions.

"Electing Sudan to the UN body mandated to promote and protect human rights worldwide is like putting Jack the Ripper in charge of a women's shelter," fumed Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, which monitors the Council in Geneva. "But it's the way the UN works."

Sudan is among five countries the African Union (AU) is moving to present to fill the five upcoming seats on the 47-member Council that are reserved for the region.

Because that many nominations represent a "clean slate," UN tradition dictates that a majority of the rest of the world endorse the choice.