Washington (AFP) - The United States withdrew from the
United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, condemning the
"hypocrisy" of its members and its alleged "unrelenting
bias" against Israel.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley,
came to Washington to announce the decision alongside President Donald Trump's
top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Both insisted the United States would remain a leading
champion of human rights but, for many, the decision will reflect Trump's
general hostility to the world body and to multilateral diplomacy in general.
The announcement came after the top UN human rights
official criticized Washington for separating migrant children from their
parents who are seeking asylum after crossing into the country from Mexico.
But Haley and Pompeo stressed the decision had been made
after a long year of efforts to shame the council into reform and to remove
member states that themselves commit abuses.
Nikki Haley announces US withdrawal from UN
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"These reforms were needed in order to make the
council a serious advocate for human rights," Haley said.
"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."
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.
In particular, the council's focus on Israeli behavior
towards Palestinians in the territory it occupies on the West Bank and in Gaza
has infuriated Washington.
But, as Haley stressed, Washington also believes it comes
up short on criticizing even flagrant abuses by US opponents like Venezuela and
Cuba.
"Countries have colluded with each other to
undermine the current method of selecting members," Pompeo said.
"And the council's continued and well-documented
bias against Israel is unconscionable," he said.
"Since its creation, the council has adopted more
resolutions condemning Israel than against the rest of the world
combined."
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the
US move, branding the council "a biased, hostile, anti-Israel organization
that has betrayed its mission of protecting human rights."
Haley, who issued a warning a year ago that Washington
would make good on its threat to leave the council if reforms were not carried
through, used even starker language.
"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," she said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regretted the US
decision, adding: "The UN's human rights architecture plays a very
important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide."
On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid
Ra'ad Al Hussein -- a Jordanian -- had rebuked Trump over the US practice of
splitting up migrant families detained on the Mexican border.
"The thought that any state would seek to deter
parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable," he said.
- Defending Israel -
Independent watchdog Human Rights Watch criticized the
move, warning Washington's absence at the council would put the onus on other
governments to address the world's most serious rights problems.
"The Trump administration's withdrawal is a sad
reflection of its one-dimensional human rights policy: defending Israeli abuses
from criticism takes precedence above all else," executive director
Kenneth Roth said.
"The UN Human Rights Council has played an important
role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all
Trump seems to care about is defending Israel."
US criticism stems from the fact that Israel is the only
country that has a dedicated agenda item at council meetings, one defended in
particular by the Arab bloc of countries.
Known as "Item 7", this items means that
Israel's treatment of the Palestinians comes under scrutiny at each of three
annual sessions.
The United States refused to join the body when it was
created in 2006, when George W. Bush was in the White House and his ambassador
to the UN was John Bolton -- now Trump's UN-skeptic national security advisor.
After Barack Obama came to power, Washington joined the
council in 2009.
But when Trump took office, he adopted a hostile approach
to world governance, leading Washington to quit the UN cultural agency UNESCO,
cut UN funding and planning to leave the Paris climate agreement.