She also criticized countries which shared US values and encouraged Washington
to remain, but "were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo.”
Washington’s withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement
after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 nuclear deal
between Tehran and world powers.
It also comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining
children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. UN
human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein on Monday called on Washington to halt
its "unconscionable” policy.
"Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the
most basic rights,” said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic
Republic of Congo. She did not mention Saudi Arabia, which rights groups pushed
to be suspended in 2016 over killings 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 UN 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.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US decision.
The United States has long shielded its ally Israel at the United Nations. In
citing what it says is bias against Israel, the administration of President
Donald Trump could further fuel Palestinian arguments that Washington cannot be
a neutral mediator as it prepares to roll out a Middle East peace plan.
Washington also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem (Quds) after recognizing it
as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of US policy.
The United States is half-way 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.
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.
"Given the state of human rights in today’s world, the US should be stepping up,
not stepping back,” Zeid said after Haley announced the US withdrawal.
"The Human Rights Council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence
and falsely condemning those that committed no offense,” Pompeo said.
Haley claimed the withdrawal "is not a retreat from our human rights
commitments.”
Source: Tasnim