U.S. Quits UN Human Rights Council Over 'Bias' Against Israel, Human Rights Abuse in Member Countries
The Trump administration has withdrawn the country from the UN Human Rights Council, as Trump's team called the 47-member council "a cesspool of political bias," especially when it comes to Israel. In turn, the council has slammed the White House for its immigration policy.
President Trump having the country quit the UN Human Rights Council may have been another dramatic move in an already contentious week for his administration, but the withdrawal has been mulled over for some time now, according to Bloomberg.
For one, the Trump administration has already threatened to pull out of the council a year ago. Nikki Haley, the American ambassador to the UN, added that the U.S. will be quitting the council if the group did not address its bias towards Israel.
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On Tuesday, June 19, all that came to a head as the U.S. finally withdrew from the group, which has been created in 2006 and is now based in Geneva.
"For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias," Haley said in a statement, adding that the continuing commitment of the country when it comes to human rights "does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights."
Haley has also pointed out in an earlier statement that many of the members of the council, which include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and China, have spotted records when it comes to upholding human rights, too.
"The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny" Haley added, pointing out how the council has prioritized "politicizing and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records" and not much in the way of reining in human rights abuse among their members.
"From day one he has called out institutions or countries who say one thing and do another, and that's precisely the problem at the human rights council," U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who appeared beside Haley as she announced the withdrawal, added in his own statement, as quoted by The Guardian.
