WASHINGTON – The Biden government will take action on Monday to return to the United Nations Human Rights Council, almost three years after President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from him, a senior State Department official said on Sunday. .
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is expected to announce that the United States will “reunite” with the council as an observer, the official said. “We intend to do so knowing that the most effective way to reform and improve the board is to engage it with principles.”
Mr. Trump withdrew from the council, the world’s most important human rights body, in 2018 for what he and his allies called Israel’s unjust targets. The departure made the United States the first country to leave voluntarily.
President Biden promised during the presidential campaign to rejoin the board and help reform. But doing so is likely to cause a political backlash: Trump’s allies have warned that the reinstatement would effectively allow the body to continue to ignore human rights abuses by board members such as Saudi Arabia, China and Russia.
Nikki R. Haley, who was the American ambassador to the United Nations when Trump withdrew from the council, called this “a pit of political prejudice” and warned against returning.
“If Biden returns to the council, whose members include dictatorial regimes and some of the world’s worst human rights violators,” wrote Haley on Twitter last month, “it will undermine our fight for human rights.”
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The United States will return to the council as a non-voting observer, and full membership will be assessed later this year. The move, previously reported by The Associated Press, comes at a time when nations facing widespread criticism for human rights abuses are trying to influence the way the council evaluates irregularities. China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela are all members.
At the same time, critics of the council have long accused him of dysfunction and of turning a blind eye to the abuses of some members while punishing others. Last week, 40 House Republicans signed a letter urging Biden to rethink his return to the country, saying the council was “disproportionately targeting” Israel instead of other members.
“Israel is the only country to be a permanent item on the council’s agenda,” said the letter. “Last year, the 43rd Session of the Human Rights Council adopted five resolutions condemning Israel, and only one targeting Iran, Syria and North Korea.”
There are signs that the board is taking steps to change on its own. In January, Fiji, a nation with a history of supporting human rights causes, won the election as president, a position that allows significant influence in setting the group’s priorities.
In recent years, Fiji has supported investigations into reported abuses in Venezuela, Belarus, Syria and Yemen, while encountering opposition from other members, including China.
The Biden government is formulating its decision as a way to accelerate these changes and join a global community that Trump largely avoided during his term. In his early weeks, Biden rejoined the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, two of the former president’s frequent targets.
“We know that the council has the potential to be an important forum for those who struggle against tyranny and injustice around the world,” the State Department official said in a statement. “When we are present at the table, we seek to reform it and ensure that it can live up to that potential.”