US to resume work with UN Human Rights Council
Washington to start with observer status and seek overhauls in group
The Biden administration said it would resume cooperating with the United Nations Human Rights Council and seek to overhaul the group, which critics say amplifies rights concerns about Israel while sweeping apparent violations by other countries under the rug.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that the US would begin working with the Council as an observer in the immediate term. Mr. Blinken didn’t say whether Washington would seek a seat on the Council when a position becomes available.
“When it works well, the Human Rights Council shines a spotlight on countries with the worst human rights records and can serve as an important forum for those fighting injustice and tyranny," Mr. Blinken said.
The Trump administration withdrew from the Council in 2018, saying it was a failure and calling it hypocritical.
The US move back toward the council, signaled by Mr. Biden’s campaign during the 2020 race, reflects President Biden’s emphasis on working through international organizations and US partners on world problems, even when Washington officials have differences with an organization or a particular ally.
That stance contrasted with the approach taken by former President Donald Trump, who pressured allies by leaving or threatening to withdraw from organizations that his administration disapproved of, sometimes as a way to gain leverage with the group.
The Biden administration previously reversed Mr. Trump’s decisions to exit from the World Health Organization, another UN body, and has rejoined the Paris climate accord, negotiated through the UN.
Mr. Blinken called the UN. Human Rights Council a “flawed body, in need of reform to its agenda, membership, and focus, including its disproportionate focus on Israel." But he added that the US withdrawal didn’t result in meaningful changes, and left a leadership vacuum “which countries with authoritarian agendas have used to their advantage."
The UN human-rights body has evolved and changed names and forms since it was first created in the 1940s with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt.
In 2020, Cuba, Russia and China—countries that have faced human-rights criticism from Washington—gained seats on the Council. Saudi Arabia was defeated in its effort to win a seat.
Seats on the Council are apportioned based on global regions. Currently, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK hold seats from the region that includes the US.
US officials didn’t specify changes they would seek to the Council. As an observer, the US will be able to speak in Council matters, participate in negotiations and work with others to introduce resolutions, Mr. Blinken said.
Day-to-day work with UN organizations will fall to longtime diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield after her expected Senate confirmation as US ambassador to the UN
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
