The United States withdrew from a "hypocritical and self-serving" United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform, a move activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult.
Standing with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting U.S. efforts to reform the council. She also criticized countries which shared U.S. values and encouraged Washington to remain in the council, but "were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo."
The United States is halfway through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled.
Washington's withdrawal is the latest U.S. rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
"Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights," said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She did not mention Saudi Arabia, which rights groups pushed to be suspended in 2016 over the killing of civilians in the Yemen war.
Among reforms the United States had pushed for was to make it easier to kick out member states with egregious rights records. Currently, a two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly is needed to suspend a member state.
Haley also said the "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights."
Pompeo noted, "The Human Rights Council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those that committed no offense."
Diplomats have said the U.S. withdrawal could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as U.N. interference in sovereign issues.
Haley stressed the withdrawal "is not a retreat from our human rights commitments."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. decision.
Israel thanks President Trump, Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador Haley for their courageous decision against the hypocrisy and the lies of the so-called UN Human Rights Council," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
"For years, the UNHRC has proven to be a biased, hostile, anti-Israel organization that has betrayed its mission of protecting human rights. Instead of dealing with regimes that systematically violate human rights, the UNHRC obsessively focuses on Israel, the one genuine democracy in the Middle East. The U.S. decision to leave this prejudiced body is an unequivocal statement that enough is enough. Israel welcomes the American announcement."
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he "welcomed the move by our true friend, which left the hypocritical council that claims to be the United Nations' Human Rights Council. Once again, we see that Israel has no greater friend that the United States."
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon also lauded the move, saying, "The UNRHC has long become the enemy of human rights. The U.S. has again proved its commitment to truth and justice and has made it clear that it will not allow the blind hatred toward Israel in international institutions to remain unanswered.
"We thank President Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo and Ambassador Hailey for the leadership they demonstrated and call on other countries to clarify in their actions that U.N. institutions are not immune from being held accountable for their action," he said.
Rights groups have criticized the Trump administration for not making human rights a priority in its foreign policy. Critics say this sends a message that the administration turns a blind eye to human rights abuses in some parts of the world.
UNHRC Commissioner Zeid bin Raad said the decision was "disappointing, if not really surprising news," adding that "given the state of human rights in today's world, the U.S. should be stepping up, not stepping back."
Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program, said Trump's "misguided policy of isolationism only harms American interests."
The EU said Washington's decision "risks undermining the role of the U.S. as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was regrettable and that the council was the "best tool the international community has to address impunity."
The Human Rights Council meets three times a year to examine human rights violations worldwide. It has mandated independent investigators to look at situations including Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan. Its resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral authority.
When the Council was created in 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush's administration shunned the body.
Under President Barack Obama, the United States was elected for a maximum of two consecutive terms on the council by the U.N. General Assembly. After a year off, Washington was re-elected in 2016 for its current third term.
U.N. officials said the United States would be the first member to withdraw from the council.
Haley said a year ago that Washington was reviewing its membership. The body has a permanent standing agenda item on suspected violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories that Washington wanted removed.
"The U.N. Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel," Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth said.
