The US threatened to pull out a year ago unless 'essential reforms were achieved' but today said it was clear those calls for change weren't heeded
DONALD Trump has withdrawn the US from the United Nations Human Rights Council as his envoy last night called it a "cesspool" which is "not worthy of its name".
America's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, slammed the body as "hypocritical and self-serving", claiming it "makes a mockery of human rights".
She threatened the US would pull out a year ago unless "essential reforms were achieved" but said it was now clear those calls for change weren't heeded.
Making the announcement alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, she accused the organisation of a "chronic bias against Israel".
She said: "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias."
Haley went on to criticise Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting US efforts to reform the council - formed in 2006 to replace the UN's Human Rights Commission.
Vice President Mike Pence later tweeted a statement: "Today the US took a stand against some of the world's worst human rights violators by withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
"By elevating and protecting human rights violators and engaging in smear campaigns against democratic nations, the UNHRC makes a mockery of itself, its members, and the mission it was founded on.
"For years, the UNHRC has engaged in ever more virulent anti-American, and anti-Israel invective and the days of US participation are over."
The move also came just one day after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border as "unconscionable."
The US has long called for the body to reform, saying it is made up of members that have been regularly accused of human rights violations.
Ms Haley pointed to the involvement of countries like China, Cuba and Venezuela in her speech on Tuesday.
She said: "Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights."
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."
Among reforms the United States had been seeking was to make it easier to kick out member state with abhorrent rights records.
Haley also cited longstanding US complaints that the 47-member council is biased against long-standing ally Israel.
Britain has also urged the UN Human Rights Council to reform its treatment of Israel.
On Monday, it joined the United States in demanding an end to what it sees as the body’s bias against the Jewish state.
Addressing the opening of the 38th council session, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson criticised the council’s controversial Agenda Item 7, a permanent fixture on the schedule exclusively devoted to discussing rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel is the only country with a dedicated council item. Item 7 on “Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories” has been part of the council’s regular business 2007, almost as long as it has existed.
Washington has sided with Israel in condemning Item 7 as prejudiced, noting that countries with worse rights records in recent years, like Syria, are spared such intense scrutiny.
While previous US administrations have criticised Item 7, Trump’s government did raise the prospect of withdrawing from the council unless it was scrapped.
The UN has not surprisingly expressed its disappointment at the drastic move by Trump's administration.
"The Secretary-General would have much preferred for the United States to remain in the Human Rights Council," a spokesman for António Guterres, said in response to the US announcement.
"The UN's Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide."
The United Nations set up the council in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights.
The old body faced mounting criticism for letting countries with poor human rights records join.
A group of 47 chosen countries from various global regions serve for three-year terms on the council.
It meets three times a year, and reviews the current human rights records of all UN members.
The council gives countries under scrutiny the chance to say what they have done to improve human rights.
It also sends out independent experts and has set up commissions of inquiry to report on human rights violations in countries including Syria, North Korea and South Sudan.
The UNHRC's current president, Slovenian ambassador Vojislav Suc, said the body was the only one "responding to human rights issues and situations worldwide".
After the US decision to quit, he said, "it is essential that we uphold a strong and vibrant council".
The UN human rights commissioner, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said it was "disappointing, if not really surprising, news."
Writing on Twitter, he added: "Given the state of #HumanRights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back."
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the decision was "regrettable", arguing that while reforms are needed, the UNHRC is "crucial to holding states to account".
Diplomats warned the US departure could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as UN interference in sovereign issues.
Twelve rights and aids groups wrote to Pompeo to warn the withdrawal would "make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world."
They said: "The US's absence will only compound the council's weaknesses."
Rights groups have also criticised the Trump administration for not making human rights a priority in its foreign policy.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to support the measure, posting a number of tweets praising the country's "courageous decision".
The council was formed in 2006 to replace the UN's Human Rights Commission, which was widely discredited for electing member states with questionable track records on human rights.
All 47 members are elected for three-year terms and the US - which is mid way through its current agreement - only joined in 2009 under Barack Obama.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
