U.S. WITHDRAWS FROM ‘BIASED’ UN RIGHTS PANEL
Cites Council’s ‘chronic bias against Israel’ as reason
Washington/United Nations, June 20: The US has quit the United Nations Human Rights Council, America’s ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley announced on Wednesday, calling it a “cesspool of political bias” that targets Israel disproportionately while ignoring atrocities in other countries.
Declaring that America will not take lectures from hypocritical institutions, the Indian-American top diplomat claimed that human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council.
The move to quit UN, which the Trump administration has threatened for months, came down one day after the Office of the UN high commissioner for human rights slammed the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border as “unconscionable”.
Washington, June 20: The United States is leaving the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, which Ambassador Nikki Haley called “an organisation that is not worthy of its name.” It’s the latest withdrawal by the Trump administration from an international institution.
Ms Haley said on Tuesday the US had given the human rights body “opportunity after opportunity” to make changes. She lambasted the council for “its chronic bias against Israel” and lamented the fact that its membership incl-udes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and selfserving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights,” Ms Haley said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alon-gside Ms Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a “noble vision.”
“But today we need to be honest,” Pompeo said. “The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights.”
The announcement came just a day after the UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. But Haley cited longstanding US complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. She had been threatening the pull-out since last year unless the council made changes advocated by the US. “Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded,” Ms Haley said.
Still, she suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, “we would be happy to rejoin it.” She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the US would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the US decision “courageous,” calling it “an unequivocal statement that enough is enough.”
The United States' current term on the council ends next year.