WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden government is expected to announce this week that it will re-engage with the much-maligned UN Human Rights Council, from which former President Donald Trump withdrew nearly three years ago, American officials said on Sunday. The decision reverses another departure from the Trump era from multilateral organizations and agreements.
WE. officials said Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a US diplomat in Geneva will announce on Monday that Washington will return to the Geneva-based body as an observer, with the aim of seeking election as a full member. The decision is likely to attract criticism from conservative lawmakers and many members of the pro-Israel community.
Trump left the world’s top human rights agency in 2018 due to his disproportionate focus on Israel, which received by far the largest number of critical resolutions from the council against any country, as well as the number of authoritarian countries among its members and why not managed to fulfill an extensive list of reforms demanded by the then US ambassador to the 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.
A senior US official said that the Biden government believed that the board still needed to reform, but that the best way to bring about change is to “engage with it in accordance with the principles”. The official said it could be “an important forum for those who fight tyranny and injustice around the world” and that the US presence aims to “ensure that it can live up to that potential”.
That official and three others familiar with the decision were not allowed to discuss the matter publicly before the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Although the United States had only non-voting observer status on the council by the end of 2021, officials said the government plans to obtain one of three full member seats – currently held by Austria, Denmark and Italy – from “Western Europe and others group states ”which will be elected later this year
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 educational and cultural organization, UNESCO and several 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.
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The Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.