US withdraws from United Nations Human Rights Council

The United States on Wednesday withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council in protest against what it calls the “hypocrisy” of its members and the alleged “unrelenting bias” against Israel.

Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the United States, along with President Donald Trump’s close aide Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the decision in Washington.

This was the second time that the US has withdrawn from the UN rights body. Earlier, then president George W Bush had pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council. The US continued to boycott the UN rights body until former president Barack Obama re-joined it in 2009.

The US decision to pull out of the 47-member Geneva-based body came days after the top UN human rights official openly criticised the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents.

Trump had suggested reforms in the body and wanted to remove some of the member states that themselves violates human rights.

“These reforms were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights,” Haley told reporters in Washington.

“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,” she added.

The Geneva-based body was established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide, but its pronouncements and reports have often clashed with US priorities.

(With PTI Inputs)