USA out from Human Rights Council
The United States fulfills its threat and proceeds to leave the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. The argument is the same one used to justify the departure from Unesco. The Administration that Donald Trump presides over protests against the treatment that this body based in Geneva gives to Israel.
The decision is not a surprise in the corridors of the UN. The ambassador of the USA, Nikki Haley, already threatened just a year ago with the possibility of abandonment by denouncing "a pathological campaign" against Israel. ad we all know how this friendship works. It was, therefore, a matter of time before Washington would proceed to execute the decision and clarify whether the withdrawal was complete. The step also takes place one day after the opening of the plenary session, during which the migratory crisis will be addressed.
The US was removed from the Human Rights Council for three years after the Republican George Bush voted against its creation in 2006. The Democrat Barack Obama changed course and decided to join in 2009. Nikki Haley then demanded a reform to facilitate the expulsion of countries with a poor record in human rights. And although there are countries that like the United Kingdom share this same concern, they do not believe that abandoning it is the remedy. "Our call to change has not been heard," Haley lamented. The official explained that the withdrawal could have been decided immediately, but said she tried to seek support among countries that share their views. "
Haley criticized that those countries had no value and things have gotten worse. She cited that the Democratic Republic of the Congo was elected as a member or that it did not rule on the situation in Venezuela or Iran. "It does not deserve this name," she riveted. The diplomat made the announcement at an event on Tuesday in Washington with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Donald Trump government thus distances itself from the multilateralism of its predecessor, as it did with Unesco, by disengaging itself from the Paris climate pact, the trans-Pacific trade treaty or the nuclear agreement with Iran. John Bolton, current National Security Adviser, was ambassador to the UN when the US decided to vote against its creation.
Pompeo said he does not doubt the "noble vision" of this body, but said he is "a poor defender of human rights." Moreover, he accused the council of "covering up the abuses" that some countries comment while calling the sentences against Israel "inconceivable". The head of US diplomacy also made clear that the US tried for more than a year to reform it. Although both Pompeo and Haley criticized the "hypocritical" attitude of the council towards Israel, the decision comes just after High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein described as "inadmissible" the dissuasive policy of separating minors who cross the border from their parents.