America continues withdrawals by leaving UN human rights body
● US ambassador says council ‘not worthy of its name’ as exit announced
The United States is leaving the United Nations Human Rights Council, which US ambassador Nikki Haley has called “an organisation that is not worthy of its name”.
The withdrawal is the latest by Donald Trump’s administration from an international institution.
Ms Haley said 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 the body’s membership included accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo.
“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.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there was no doubt the council once had a “noble vision”.
“But we need to be honest,” Mr Pompeo said. “The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights.”
The announcement came just 24 hours after the UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-hussein denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents.
But Ms Haley cited longstanding American complaints over the 47-member council being 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.
She suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding 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 called the US decision “courageous”, and “an unequivocal statement that enough is enough”.
The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president’s “America First” policy.
Although officials have said repeatedly“america first does not mean America Alone”, the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office. Since last year, the US has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the UN educational and cultural organisation and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminium against key trading partners, recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Opposition to the decision from human rights advocates was swift. A group of 12 organisations, including Save the Children, Freedom House and the United Nations Association-usa, said there were “legitimate concerns” about the council, but none of them warranted a US exit.
“This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world,” the organisations said in a joint statement.
Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said: “All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel.”
Mr al-hussein said on Twitter the US decision was “disappointing, if not really surprising, news”. “Given the state of #Humanrights in today’s world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back.”