The United States on Monday announced plans to re-engage with the much-maligned UN Human Rights Council, from which former President Donald Trump withdrew nearly three years ago, while the Biden government reverses another departure from the Trump era from organizations and multilateral agreements.
US Chargé d’Affaires in Geneva, Mark Cassayre, said at an organizational meeting of the main UN human rights body that the United States will return as an observer. American diplomats say that this step comes with the goal of seeking the election as a full member.
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“The Biden government believes in a foreign policy centered on democracy, human rights and equality,” said Cassayre at an organizational board meeting. “The effective use of multilateral tools is an important element of this vision.”
The decision is likely to attract criticism from conservative lawmakers and many from the pro-Israel community, who ridiculed the council and echoed the Trump administration’s complaints that it was too quick to ignore abuses of autocratic regimes and governments – and even accept them as members. .
Cassayre, the top US diplomat in Geneva, said the most effective way to reform and improve the Geneva-based body is “to engage it according to the principles”.
“While we recognize the failures of the council, we know that this body has the potential to be an important forum for those who struggle against tyranny and injustice around the world,” he said. “When we are present at the table, we try to ensure that you can live up to that potential.”
Trump withdrew from the council in 2018 because of his disproportionate focus on Israel, which received by far the largest number of critical resolutions from the council against any country, and because he failed to fulfill an extensive list of reforms demanded by the then US ambassador to the as United Nations Nikki Haley.
In addition to the council’s persistent focus on Israel, the Trump administration has questioned members of the body, which currently includes China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela, all accused of human rights abuses.
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Hillel Neuer, the executive director of the advocacy group UN Watch, which often criticizes the council’s excessive focus on Israel, said the Obama administration had a “tendency to become a council cheerleader” – and asked the Biden to avoid that and, instead, denounce the “abuses” of the board.
“The cost of the US decision to re-join is that it gives legitimacy to a council where tyrannies and other non-democracies now represent 60% of the members,” said Neuer.
“In return, the United States must demand serious reform, removing despots from the council like the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela, holding dictators accountable and removing the agenda item that targets Israel at each session, the only one focusing on a single country,” he added.
The council’s next session – the first of three each year, and the only one to feature a “high-profile segment” that tends to attract top diplomats – runs from February 22 to March 23.
Although the United States has only non-voting observer status for the time being, US officials say the government intends to seek one of the three full-member seats that became vacant when the current Austrian, Danish and Italian council mandates – from ” Western Europe and other group states “- expires at the end of 2021.
The UN General Assembly makes the final choice in a vote that usually takes place in October each year to fill vacancies in three-year terms on the board of 47 member states.
US involvement with the council and its predecessor, the UN Human Rights Commission, has been a kind of political football between the Republican and Democratic governments for decades. While acknowledging their shortcomings, Democratic presidents tended to want a seat at the table, while Republicans backed down on criticism of Israel.
Trump’s departure from the UNHRC, however, was one of several U.S. reductions in the international community during his four years in office. He also departed from the Paris Climate Agreement, the nuclear agreement with Iran, the World Health Organization, the UN’s cultural and educational organization, UNESCO and various arms control treaties. Trump also threatened to withdraw from the International Postal Union and often hinted that he should withdraw from the World Trade Organization.
Since taking office last month, President Joe Biden has returned to the Paris and WHO agreement and has signaled interest in returning to the agreement with Iran as well as UNESCO.