The United States has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council, citing ongoing political bias and an unwillingness for reform.
“For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded,” US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said.
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Haley cited the granting of membership to the council for the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past year, and a lack of action by the council “massive abuses” in Venezuela and Iran as further reasons the US has left.
The council has been “criticised for allowing countries with questionable human rights records to be members”, the BBC says.
The Guardian says the US is also unhappy about the existence of the permanent “agenda item 7”, which is “exclusively devoted to the discussion of rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip”.
What was the reaction to the move?
UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, criticised the Trump administration’s decision on Twitter.
“Given the state of human rights in today’s world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back,” he wrote.
A number of charities criticised the move, with the American Civil Liberties Union saying the Trump administration was mounting a "concerted, aggressive effort to violate basic human rights".
Boris Johnson has described the move by the US as “regrettable”, and said that while reform for the council is needed, the UK is “committed to working to strengthen the council from within”.