Kuwait replaced Syria on an uncontested slate of countries seeking seats on the United Nations’ main human rights body after an outcry over the violent crackdown on domestic dissent by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, according to the New York Times.

The Asian bloc, which reserves a seat for an Arab country, will present the nominees for the May 20 vote for new members of the 47-nation Human Rights Council. The Asian group had nominated Syria, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. But the bloc drew the ire of other countries, mostly Western nations, which contended that electing Syria to the council would be unacceptable given the mounting death toll and mass arrests of protesters in the country.