US might withdraw from UN Human Rights Council over ‘anti-Israel bias’

GENEVA, Switzerland (Kurdistan24) – The United States may withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council unless reforms are made, and Israel is no longer targeted, diplomats and activists warned.

According to the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, Washington will decide whether to pull out from the Council following a three-week session in Geneva ending this month.

Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the US has already pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, drawing criticism from leaders around the globe.

The Council’s “anti-Israel bias” is cited as a major reason why the US might withdraw from the assembly.

In the Washington Post, Haley called for the Council to “end its practice of wrongly singling out Israel for criticism.”

Washington previously shunned the UN body for three years under George W. Bush’s presidency before rejoining in 2009 under Barack Obama.

Activist groups responded to Haley suggesting a withdrawal would be “counterproductive” and may result in the Council “unfairly targeting Israel to an even greater degree.”

During the period of the US boycott under Bush, the UN assembly’s performance suffered “both with respect to addressing the world’s worst violators and with respect to its anti-Israel bias,” Reuters reported.

The Council can only reproach governments who breach human rights and order investigations but also plays a pivotal role in international peacekeeping.

Haley highlighted the Council’s ostracizing of Israel, “a country with a strong human rights record,” compared to its stance on Iran who has “an abysmal human rights record.”

Meanwhile, the Geneva director of the US-based Human Rights Watch John Fisher predicted Washington would send “a message of engagement and reform” rather than withdraw.

Editing by G. H. Renaud