US plans to withdraw from UN Human Rights Council: report

The Trump administration is reportedly planning on withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley are scheduled to announce the withdrawal at 5 p.m., according to Bloomberg.

The report follows one from Reuters last week that said the U.S. withdrawing from the group was “not a question of if but of when.”

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The U.S. has frequently criticized the committee for what it sees as hypocrisy and a bias against Israel. Haley has consistently voted against U.N. measures that were critical of Israel, and earlier this month publicly rebuked the organization for its call to end Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy that separates families caught crossing the border illegally. 

“Once again, the United Nations shows its hypocrisy by calling out the United States while it ignores the reprehensible human rights records of several members of its own Human Rights Council,” Haley said in a statement. 

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, again slammed the U.S. policy in the latest session on Monday, saying “the thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable.” 

Bloomberg notes that a U.S. withdrawal from the 47-member council based in Geneva was expected. National security adviser John Bolton has been a prominent critic of the council since its inception.

Under former President George W. Bush, the U.S. boycotted the council for three years, but rejoined it under former President Obama. 

Haley has called for the U.N. to make it easier to expel states with poor human rights records from the council, such as Venezuela, China and Saudi Arabia.