Poll of the Day > U.S. announces its withdrawal from U.N.'s human rights council.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621435225/u-s-announces-its-withdrawal-from-u-n-s-human-rights-council

After more than a year of complaints and warnings some subtle and others a little less so the Trump administration has announced that the United States. is withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley announced the decision in a joint statement to the media Tuesday.

The move comes as little surprise from an administration that frequently has lambasted the 47-member body for a gamut of perceived failures including what Haley has called the council's "relentless, pathological campaign" against Israel, a staunch U.S. ally.

In a speech to the council last year, Haley delivered something amounting to an ultimatum: Either the Human Rights Council can "address its chronic anti-Israel bias" and clean up its roster of member countries which includes Venezuela, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries with dubious human rights records of their own or the council can bid the U.S. farewell.

"If the Human Rights Council is going to be an organization we entrust to protect and promote human rights, it must change," Haley said in remarks to the Graduate Institute of Geneva, the same day as her speech at the council. "If it fails to change, then we must pursue the advancement of human rights outside of the Council."

Trump's diplomatic team is not the first within the U.S. to voice such criticism.

When the council was first established in 2006, the administration George W. Bush withheld its membership over similar concerns. And when the Obama administration announced in 2009 that it would reverse course and seek membership, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. at the time, Susan Rice, said the decision was made out of a belief "that working from within, we can make the council a more effective forum to promote and protect human rights."

Several U.S. critics, in condemning the decision Tuesday, echoed precisely this desire for reform as a principal reason to stay in the council, not leave it.

"The UN Human Rights Council has always been a problem. Instead of focusing on real human-rights issues, the council has used its time and resources to bully Israel and question Israel's legitimacy as a sovereign state," Rep. Eliot Engel, the ranking Democratic member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in a statement Tuesday. "But the way to deal with this challenge is to remain engaged and work with partners to push for change.

"By withdrawing from the council, we lose our leverage and allow the council's bad actors to follow their worst impulses unchecked including running roughshod over Israel."

And Richard Gowan, a fellow at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, told NPR's Michele Kelemen that there is another potential issue muddying the waters of this decision: the recent condemnations leveled at the Trump administration's immigration policies by international human rights officials.

In a span of less than two months, U.S. officials have separated some 2,300 children from their parents after they crossed the border into the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security. And the administration's policy has attracted sharp rebuke from the U.N. high commissioner on human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein.

"The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable," he said Monday, in comments opening the 38th session of the Human Rights Council.

Hussein pointed to criticism from the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics who referred to the border policy as "government-sanctioned child abuse" and noted that the U.S. is the only country not to ratify the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

"I don't think [Tuesday's withdrawal] is linked to Prince Zeid's criticism of U.S. immigration policies," Gowan acknowledged, explaining that the high commissioner is technically separate from the council. But, Gowan added, "The timing looks just awful for Nikki Haley and Secretary Pompeo."

I have no idea what any of this means but if the Orange man did it then it must be good
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But, Gowran added, "The timing looks just awful for The Federation and Deep Space Nine."
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The council was a joke to begin with
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WastelandCowboy posted...

and clean up its roster of member countries which includes Venezuela, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries with dubious human rights records of their own

Yeah, why would we ever want countries with questionable human rights records attending discussions on how to improve the human rights records of countries with questionable human rights records?
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adjl posted...

WastelandCowboy posted...

and clean up its roster of member countries which includes Venezuela, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries with dubious human rights records of their own

Yeah, why would we ever want countries with questionable human rights records attending discussions on how to improve the human rights records of countries with questionable human rights records?

We all know the illuminati has already solved all the problems.
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BADoglick posted...

The council was a joke to begin with

yup.
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BADoglick posted...

The UN was a joke to begin with

FTFY.

The human rights council was probably cracking down on Israel and the US had to pull out
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Lokarin posted...

The human rights council was probably cracking down on Israel and the US had to pull out

which is hilarious considering what saudi arabia is pulling.

but oh noes, lets give them a fucking seat.
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WastelandCowboy posted...

In a speech to the council last year, Haley delivered something amounting to an ultimatum: Either the Human Rights Council can "address its chronic anti-Israel bias" and clean up its roster of member countries which includes Venezuela, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries with dubious human rights records of their own or the council can bid the U.S. farewell.

tbh, a human rights council that includes nations that routinely perpetrate egregious human rights violations against its citizens is a little weird. China has been repeatedly accused of harvesting organs from imprisoned dissidents, Saudi Arabia's government still punishes LBGT with floggings and sometimes even murder, and Venezuela is a non-stop humanitarian crisis. That's not counting that it also lists among its members the Philippines, which has been pretty brazenly executing suspected drug dealers and users.

adjl posted...

WastelandCowboy posted...

and clean up its roster of member countries which includes Venezuela, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries with dubious human rights records of their own

Yeah, why would we ever want countries with questionable human rights records attending discussions on how to improve the human rights records of countries with questionable human rights records?

...except the allegation is that these nations *haven't* made any effort to clean up their own behaviors. At this rate, might as well let NK and Myanmar onto the council.

All of which overlooks that the only thing the council has routinely done is demonstrate its antisemitism.
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Zeus posted...

...except the allegation is that these nations *haven't* made any effort to clean up their own behaviors.

Which is bad, but I still think it's better to have those countries at the table than not. Heck, a human rights council is something that just about every country should be present for, otherwise it just turns into a circle jerk over how much better everyone there is than all those losers that weren't invited. Can't hold violators accountable if they aren't there.
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adjl posted...

Zeus posted...

...except the allegation is that these nations *haven't* made any effort to clean up their own behaviors.

Which is bad, but I still think it's better to have those countries at the table than not. Heck, a human rights council is something that just about every country should be present for, otherwise it just turns into a circle jerk over how much better everyone there is than all those losers that weren't invited. Can't hold violators accountable if they aren't there.

Back when things were starting and it looked like progress was possible, sure. However, right now all it does is give some of the most egregious violators better PR which offsets international condemnations. Kind of like how giving a Nobel Peace Prize to a president on the day he commits to a troop surge is sending mixed messages.
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Well, considering the "Human Rights Council" includes Venezuela, Cuba, South Africa, Iraq, and China, can you really blame him?

Other countries not in the council:
Canada
France
South Korea
Uruguay
Denmark

How is this an issue, other than the fact that people just don't like the president?
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When was the last time the US gave a shit about human rights?
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as somebody said on the politics board he withdrew once somebody told him Human Rights Council has the initials HRC

Lets stick the inmates to be in charge of the jail. Lets stick the human rights violators to be in charge of the human rights council! The UN as a whole is becoming more and more of a joke. IMO we should pull out of it and kick them out of NYC.

The United States is the largest provider of financial contributions to the United Nations, providing 22 percent of the entire UN budget in 2017 (in comparison the next biggest contributor is Japan with almost 10 percent, while EU countries pay a total of above 30 percent).

Lets see how they do if 22% just went POOF on their asses.
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Whether or not the UN is a joke is irrelevant. This gesture's symbolism is damning.
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BADoglick posted...

The council was a joke to begin with

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TheCyborgNinja posted...

Whether or not the UN is a joke is irrelevant. This gesture's symbolism is damning.

Damning for the UN, sure.
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