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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018.U.S. withdraws from United Nations human rights body
By Lesley Wroughton and Steve Holland WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
29 Comments
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PTownsend
because of its history of being a serial violator of human rights, at home and abroad.
Trump, his fellow predatory global capitalists and the various authoritarian nationalist groups, backed by their respective 'militias' that support them, have taken control over the US. They've opened the doors, fully exposing the nastiness that's long lurked underneath.
It has happened (t)here. Dystopian novels like Sinclair Lewis's warned us.
katsu78
The country holding minority immigrant children hostage for political purposes and building concentration camps for them complains that the other countries on the UN Human Rights Council don't belong there.
Black Sabbath
Comparing the US to Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo is just plain silly.
Bintaro
Hey, Nikki ! Want to talk about the US overthrowing democratically elected leaders ? War crimes ? Police shootings/beatings ? Prisons ?
I didn't think so.
cla68
Standing up to anti-Semitism at the UN.
Toasted Heretic
Not surprised. The current situation in the US is abominable. And of course, the US support for the crimes against humanity carried out in Israel is at odds with human rights.
Criticism of the actions of the Israeli govt and the IDF is not anti-Semitic, btw. Otherwise that would make the many, many Jewish people abroad and in Israel who speak out against the apartheid and human rights violations anti-Semitic.
yamada1043
The puppeteer in occupied Jerusalem instructed his puppet in Washington ... the hypocrisy of it all!
spinningplates
No problem with this descision America seems powerless, so Trump can do whatever,
but....America really should remove the Statue of Liberty, or at least throw a blanket over it for a few years.
CrazyJoe
Just another retreat from the US' former role as a world leader. I fear that the damage being done by the current US administration to the US and the world will take decades to repair, if ever; now that we have handed the leadership to China.
While the Trump administration, on its own decision, and no one else's, separates children from their families who are seeking asylum, it has the gall to quit the UN Human Rights Council, citing the failure of other members.
There is no question the Council is severely flawed, but this is not only an act of throwing one's hands up, and quitting, but acting in a hypocritical manner. At this moment, the Trump administration has no standing to act so high minded.
RichardPearce
Trust Trump to hide an act of craven cowardice (The 'withdrawal' - though retreat, or even just plain old 'running away' are more appropriate terms - is really so America doesn't have listen to a list of its human rights abuses and then claim it is going to avoid committing them again) behind a lie so blatant that anyone with eyes can see it as ridiculous (how can any human rights body NOT focus on the Israeli regime's war crimes committed in aid of the named Crime Against Humanity?)
Toasted Heretic
Just look at the company he keeps and keeps praising. Kim, Duterte, Putin and Netanyahu.
Bit of a giveaway.
theFu
If the USA is so bad, don't visit, don't do business, don't move there. That will teach them. Certainly don't hop the borders, with your children.
If you look at the make up of the UNHR, you'll see 25% are well-know violators and constantly attacking their own residents human rights, especially the rights of women and non-citizens. Many don't allow open elections or freedom of speech or freedom of religion.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Venezuela
China
Cuba
Iraq
Burundi****
United Arab Emirates
Pakistan
Afghanistan
Angola
M3M3M3
The problem is not so much that the UNHRC condemns Israel for its human right abuses, but that their focus on Israel comes at the expense of shining a light on other human rights abuses around the world, particularly in the countries with horrible human rights records who happen to hold power in the council and set the agenda. They return to condemning Israel because it's the only thing they can ever agree on discussing. If Israel didn't exist, the organisation would have trouble passing a single resolution. In the words of a UNHRC interpreter who was caught on a hot mic a few years ago, "*There's other really bad sht happening, but nobody says anything about the other stuff"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7W5tsnd0BE
Joe Biden had a really great idea when he suggested a League of Democracies as a competing institution to the UN. Regardless of what you think of Trump, the UNHRC is genuinely not fit for purpose or worth funding unless serious reform is undertaken.
Toasted Heretic
Most countries have shaky records on democracy and human rights. Doesn't mean people shouldn't work towards a better world.
But nah, those darn human rights are getting in the way of the really important stuff like caging kids.
M3M3M3
Nobody is against working together, but why allow countries who deliberately seek to undermine human rights to join an organisation designed to bring awareness to human rights?
Silvafan
No surprise! The US has been separating children since slavery. It was deliberate technique to break the spirit the individual during chattel slavery. It has been going on until this day. It happened to the Native Americans too.
Dump is the physical embodiment of stupidity and ignorance in the US. Russia continues to get its revenge on the US with the Manchurian candidate in office. Putin, proud of his work, must be sipping Vodka and smoking cigars somewhere. A true spymaster by using the US's own stupidity against itself.
Vote in November!
Luddite
Of course the USA has to leave the UNHRC, as it no longer pretends to care about human rights.
Pariah state.
elephant200
Should let 'B.L.M.' aka Black Lives Matter speak in United Nation human rights council and let the world knows who really needs inspection of human rights 'Urgently' !
Maria
That ship sailed some time ago, with your commitments on it.
elephant200
Yes! Because it is a very useful political tool to intervene other's business!
M3M3M3
For the benefit of those who may not fully understand how the UNHRC is structured, it's worth pointing out that not every country gets to participate. The organisation was founded with a bizarre and complex system where only 47 countries are voted in by the UN general assembly to participate at any one time. The major problem is that the GA can't just vote in the 47 countries that are leading the world on human rights, because the seats have been reserved for countries on geographical basis. For example, 13 seats on the council must always go to African countries. Another 13 seats must always go to countries in Asia and the Middle East. 8 are reserved for South America and the Carribean. 6 are reserved for Eastern Europe. And only 7 seats are reserves for Western Europe, North America and Australasia.
Geographical representation wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't such a struggle to name a single country in either Africa, the Middle East or even Asia with a decent track record on human rights approaching western liberal democracies. But in the UNHRC, illiberal states with no interest in human rights have gamed the system from the start.
Matt Hartwell
No idea why Australia is part of that ridiculous organization as it currently stands.
The U.S is right on this issue. It is definitely anti-Israel and it is loaded with blatant human rights offenders.
Blacklabel
Waste of time and money. We have enough "moral police" already.
Goodlucktoyou
So the reason Israel is condemned by the UN for human rights abuses is because they are human rights abusers. The only smart way to resolve this is to rename the United Nations Human Rights Council to the “United Nations Turn A Blind Eye To Israel Human Rights Council”. UNTBEIHRC.
lostrune2
So now they're concerned with human rights?
There's another country missing there
Who's the guy again who just praised Kim for holding on to power at such a young age (of course thru brutal means) and said that Kim loves his people?
Why don't they cite that too