NEW YORK: The US has pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling it a “cesspool of political bias”.
The “hypocritical and self-serving” body “makes a mockery of human rights”, said US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley.
Formed in 2006, the Geneva-based council has been criticised for allowing countries with questionable human rights records to be members. But activists said the US move could hurt efforts to monitor and address human rights abuses around the world.
Ms Haley announced her country’s intention to quit the council at a joint news conference with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who called the council “a poor defender of human rights”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in a statement released through his spokesman, responded by saying he would have “much preferred” the US to remain in the council.
The UN human rights commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called the US withdrawal “disappointing, if not really surprising, news”. Israel, meanwhile, has praised the decision.
The move comes amid intense criticism over the Trump administration’s policy of separating child migrants from their parents at the US-Mexico border. On Monday Mr Hussein has called the policy “unconscionable”.
The UN set up the council in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights, which faced widespread criticism for letting countries with poor human rights records become members.
A group of 47 elected countries from different global regions serve for three-year terms on the council.
The UNHRC meets three times a year, and reviews the human rights records of all UN members in a special process the council says gives countries the chance to say what they have done to improve human rights, known as the Universal Periodic Review.
The council also sends out independent experts and has set up commissions of inquiry to report on human rights violations in countries including Syria, North Korea, Burundi, Myanmar and South Sudan.
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