US quits UN Human Rights Council
The US withdrew Wednesday from the UN Human Rights Council and condemned its “shameless hypocrisy” in absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those committing no offence, saying America will not take lectures from hypocritical institutions.The decision to pull the US out of the Council was announced by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
The US withdrew on Wednesday from the UN Human Rights Council and condemned its “shameless hypocrisy” in absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those committing no offence, saying America will not take lectures from hypocritical institutions.
The decision to pull the US out of the UN Human Rights Council was announced by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who also criticised the council for a “disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel”.
She claimed that human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council.
The world’s most inhuman regimes continue to escape scrutiny, and the council continues politicising and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks, she said. “Therefore, as we said we would do a year ago if we did not see any progress, the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council,” Haley said.
In doing so, Haley made it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from human rights commitments.
“On the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights,” she said. Haley also criticised the council for a “disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel”, citing a series of resolutions highlighting alleged abuses by the Israeli government of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that the council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those who have committed no offence.
“We have no doubt that there was once a noble vision for this council. But today, we need to be honest - the Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights,” Pompeo told reporters at a joint media appearance with Haley.