By ELIZABETH OLSON

               GENEVA, Switzerland -- An effort led by the United States to
               rebuke Cuba for its human-rights practices was voted down
          Tuesday by the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

          The defeat appears to reflect a growing sentiment, particularly among
          Europeans and Latin Americans, that Cuba cannot be isolated forever
          and that it is making efforts to meet its international human-rights
          obligations.

          The U.S.-sponsored resolution called on Havana to "promote and protect
          human rights and fundamental freedoms" and to "release numerous
          persons detained for activities of a political nature."

          Nineteen countries voted against the proposal -- including China and
          Russia -- and 16, including the United States, Britain, France and
          Germany, voted in favor. Another 18 members, including many Latin
          American countries, abstained.

          "This vote has repaired a historic mistake and has ended selective and
          discriminatory treatment against us," Maria de los Angeles Florez, Cuba's
          chief delegate, said after the vote.

          Also on Tuesday, the rights commission criticized Iraq, adopting a
          resolution that "strongly condemns the systematic, widespread and
          extremely grave violations of human rights," which it said resulted "in an
          all-pervasive repression and oppression sustained by broad-based
          discrimination and widespread terror."

          The resolution was approved, 32-0, after Russia failed to muster support
          for diluting it by removing some of the tougher wording. Russia and China
          were among the 21 countries that abstained.

          In Cuba's case, an independent U.N. investigator, Carl Johan Groth of
          Sweden, told the commission last month that President Fidel Castro's
          communist government systematically and brutally repressed its domestic
          critics.

          But he added that the nearly four-decade-long U.S. economic embargo
          against Cuba was partly to blame for the situation, causing a "tragic
          shortage of material goods" and "untold hardships."

          The U.S. effort to keep pressure on Cuba has been steadily losing allies.
          Beginning with the first U.S. resolution in 1992, support has been
          dwindling. This year Italy and France, which co-sponsored the U.S.
          resolution in 1997, refused to do so again, although they did vote for it.

          France declined co-sponsorship because of Washington's hard line on
          Cuba, the French delegate, Marion Paradas-Bouveau, said. "Cuba has
          cooperated with the U.N. human-rights bodies," she said. Failure to
          include amendments sponsored by the European Union also weakened
          support, further isolating the United States on Cuba, she added.

          Disenchantment with U.S. policy has been fueled by European objections
          to the Helms-Burton Act, which imposes penalties on companies that use
          U.S. properties in Cuba that were seized by the Castro government three
          decades ago.

          Cuba's overtures toward the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the visit
          of Pope John Paul II in January, and the country's increasing acceptance
          at international and regional forums bolstered its campaign to portray itself
          as a victim of a vindictive United States, a diplomat said.