Their announcement comes just a day after the UN condemned America’s inhumane border policies.
Back in 2006, the United Nations established the Human Rights Council to promote and protect human rights around the world. As an impartial body, it’s condemned a litany of countries for their flagrant disregard for human rights, including a damning report of Australia’s detention policies.
While their reports have denounced the behaviour of many countries, it appears US president Donald Trump has had enough.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced today they’d withdrawn from the council, condemning the “hypocrisy” of its members and its alleged “unrelenting bias” against Israel.
“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 timing of the withdrawal comes suspiciously soon after the top UN human rights official criticised Washington for callously separating migrant children from their parents seeking asylum from Mexico.
“The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable,” they proclaimed, and the world agreed.
Read the article by Kate Wagner at Cosmopolitan.