UN official predicts Biden will roll back Trump ‘setbacks for human rights’

United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet welcomed President-elect Joe Biden’s policy proposals Wednesday, saying she believes he will help to overturn dangerous “setbacks” put in place by the Trump administration, Reuters reported.

The former Chilean president, who worked closely with Biden while he was overseeing relations with Latin America during the Obama administration, applauded the former vice president’s proposed efforts to fix various wrongdoings including violations against migrants and the U.S.’s exit from the Paris Agreement on climate.

“He has made a series of promising pledges like the protection for child arrivals — and I think that’s fantastic that they will stop the family separation — and of course all the issues with the frontier, the border with Mexico,” Bachelet said. “If those pledges are implemented I think they will have a positive impact on human rights in the U.S. and globally.”

Bachelet added that President Trump’s “America First” policy has resulted in direct harm for many groups worldwide.

“They could also reverse policies carried out in the Trump administration which have led to serious setbacks for human rights including the rights of women, of LGBT persons, migrants or journalists,” she added.

Bachelet also noted her contempt over the Trump administration’s scheduling of many death-row inmate executions before Biden takes office on Jan. 5.

“We call for prompt review of all federal death row cases to avoid arbitrary or discriminatory application of the death penalty,” she said.