US envoy slams human rights groups

NEW YORK: US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesday accused human rights groups of thwarting an American push for changes to the UN Human Rights Council and contributing to Washington’s decision to quit the body.

In a letter sent to non-governmental organisations, Haley complained that they had played a “deconstructive” role by refusing to support US efforts to take Israel off the council’s agenda.

Haley on Tuesday announced the US was quitting the council, condemning the “hypocrisy” of its members and its alleged “unrelenting bias” against Israel.

“You should know that your efforts to block negotiations and thwart reform were a contributing factor in the US decision to withdraw from the council,” said Haley in the letter seen by AFP.

“You put yourself on the side of Russia and China, and opposite the United States, on a key human rights issue.”

Haley was referring to a letter by 18 rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, to United Nations member-states last month expressing concern that a US draft resolution at the General Assembly could weaken the rights council.

The rights groups had warned that the proposed changes could trigger “hostile amendments”, possibly from China and Russia, to undermine the work of the council which monitors human rights crises worldwide.

“Such hostile proposals could enjoy broad support and the US might not be able to stop them,” said Human Rights Watch’s UN director Louis Charbonneau.

In the end, the US did not push ahead with its proposals at the General Assembly because of lack of support from allies.

HRW executive director Kenneth Roth argued that reforms were underway to improve the workings of the 47-nation Geneva-based council but that the US “walked away from” that effort and chose instead to “theatrically” quit the council.

“By attacking and blaming NGOs for its own failure, the Trump administration is taking a page out of the book of some of the worst governments around the world,” said Charbonneau. – AFP