The United States officially seceded from the UN Council on human rights. At the press conference, the United States Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, commented on the decision, calling the Council a «hypocritical and pursuing only their own interests».
«The UN for too long protected the perpetrators of human rights violations, behaving in a biased and politicised», she said.
.@USUN Ambassador Nikki Haley announces the U.S. withdrawal from the @UN #HumanRightsCouncil. pic.twitter.com/G1Zk7ZZhGT
— Department of State (@StateDept) June 19, 2018
Among the reasons of an exit — long disagreements between the United Nations and the States in matters of Israel. Haley has repeatedly opposed measures against Israel, and accused the UN of being biased towards the country. During the last vote, only the US and Australia voted against inquiry into Israel’s use of «excessive force» in the Gaza strip.
The first threat of the possible withdrawal was announced in 2017.
It is possible that the last straw in the conflict was the statement made on 18 June the UN high Commissioner for human rights Zeid RA’ad al-Hussein. In his speech, he demanded that the administration trump stopped the forced separation of migrant children and their parents, calling such a policy «unconscionable». It was the last speech of al-Hussein before the expiry of his term of office.
