(Newswire.net— June 21, 2018) — The US withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), a body created by the UN to monitor and report human rights violators.
The move comes after the UN sanctioned body condemned Israel for violating human rights.
The human rights watcher also put the US under the spotlight after reports of severe human rights violations on the US – Mexico border where children of illegal immigrants are being separated from their parents. US President Donald Trump signed the Presidential executive order to stop this practice.
“We’re going to keep families together, but we have to keep our borders strong,” Trump said.
The move, however, sparked some harsh criticism as it would mean that the children will be jailed along with their parents and placed in conditions that are bad and humiliating, prompting the UNHRC to react.
Accusing the UNHRC of being “chronically biased” the US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley announced the US withdrawal from the organization. US Vice President Mike Pence said that in exiting the UN body Washington “took a stand against some of the world’s worst human rights violators.”
Both, Trump’s and Obama’s administration, however, are developing strong economic ties with human rights abusers such as Saudi Arabia, China and Egypt.
Leaving the UNHRC has been widely condemned among NATO allies and other countries in the world, except Israel. The British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called the move “regrettable” while the European Union stated the withdrawal “risks undermining the role of the US as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage.”
Labour MP Richard Burgon went one step further, speculating that the decision was prompted by Trump’s desire to have “even less scrutiny of his horrific policies,” Russia Today reports.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that the country is concerned by the council’s “anti-Israel bias”, however she urged the Trump administration to remain on the UNHRC and attempt to reform it from within.
Belgian’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders and Sweden’s minister for foreign affairs Margot Wallstrom said they are “disappointed” by the announcement.
“It saddens me that the US has decided to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council. It comes at a time when the world needs more human rights and a stronger UN – not the opposite,” Russia Today quoted Wallstrom.
Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova joins the condemnation of the US’s withdrawal from the Council, however, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump and Haley for their “courageous decision against the hypocrisy and the lies of the so-called UN Human Rights Council.”
The CNN noticed that the UNHRC is only the latest international body or agreement that the Trump administration has withdrawn from, including the Paris climate accords, the Iran nuclear deal, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.