U.S. intentions to withdraw from UN Human Rights Council

According to Reuters, the United States may signal on Tuesday intentions to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council unless there are reforms made including the expulsion of what it calls "anti-Israel bias". 

As Washington is usually the only nation to cast a vote against Arab-led resolutions and as Israel and Palestine are fixed issues on the Council's agenda, this has led some, such as Freedom House and the Jacob Blaustein Institute, to worry that the United States's actions may end up causing an opposite effect from what the state desires and instead could lead to the Council "unfairly targeting Israel to an even greater degree."

"When the council passes more than 70 resolutions against Israel, a country with a strong human rights record, and just seven resolutions against Iran, a country with an abysmal human rights record, you know something is seriously wrong," writes U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, who holds cabinet rank in President Donald Trump's administration.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, others, such as Ty Cobb, Director of Human Rights Campaign Global, also indicate that the decision would do more harm then good.

“Consider the message the United States would send to the world if it were to disengage from the UN Human Rights Council,” says Cobb. “U.S. foreign policy must protect and promote human rights. Turning away from the Council would signal to brutal regimes — and all those they oppress — that the U.S. is looking the other way. Without U.S. leadership, despotic leaders will be emboldened to control the agenda and push their own dangerous goals.”

The U.S. envoy plans to host a panel on "Human Rights and Democracy in Venezuela" where it will address the Graduate Institute in Geneva before leaving for Israel.

This news comes less than a week after the United States withdrew from the Paris climate agreement making the United States one of only three sovereign nation states to refuse to sign the agreement. 
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Copyright 2017 The Gayly - 6/6/2017 @ 5:50 p.m. CDT