Donald Trump Pulls United States Out of the UN Human Rights Council - Granite Grok

Donald Trump Pulls United States Out of the UN Human Rights Council

Nikki Haley US withdraws from UN human Rights Council

Yesterday, Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo announced the United States intention to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council citing its entrenched bias against Israel and inclusion of “notorious human rights abusers” as members.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has sought major changes on the council throughout her tenure, issued a blistering critique of the panel, saying it had grown more callous over the past year and become a “protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias.” She cited the admission of Congo as a member even as mass graves were being discovered there, and the failure to address human rights abuses in Venezuela and Iran.

The UN Human Rights Council is a joke. The preeminent example of letting wolves “guard” the Hen House.

And much like the Swamp in DC, it has no desire to change.

Haley accused governments with woeful human rights records of seeking seats on the council to avoid scrutiny and then resisting proposals for reform.

“When we made it clear we would strongly pursue council reform, these countries came out of the woodwork to oppose it,” she said. “Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt all attempted to undermine our reform efforts this past year.”

I’d expect there are more than a few other abusers in the 47-member UN InHuman Rights Council who opposed reform.

In the absence of progress on reforms, exiting makes a statement that we will no longer pretend to be advancing human rights shoulder to shoulder with some of its biggest abusers.

“I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments,” she said during a joint appearance with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the department. “On the contrary. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.”

Here’s the public announcement.

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