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WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is set to announce this week it will re-engage with the much-maligned United Nations Human Rights Council that former President Donald Trump withdrew nearly three years, US officials said on Sunday. The decision reverses another Trump-era move away from multilateral organizations and agreements.
WE. Officials say Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a senior US diplomat in Geneva will announce on Monday that Washington will return to the Geneva-based forum as an observer with a view to running for election as a member at full fledged. The move is likely to attract criticism from conservative lawmakers and many in the pro-Israel community.
Trump withdrew from the world’s leading human rights agency in 2018 due to its disproportionate focus on Israel, which has received by far the most critical resolutions from the council against any country, as well as the number of authoritarian countries among its members and because it failed to respond to a long list of reforms demanded by then-US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
In addition to the Council’s continued focus on Israel, the Trump administration has challenged the membership of the body, which currently includes China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela, all of which have been accused of human rights violations.
A senior US official said the Biden administration believed the council still needed to reform, but that the best way to promote change was to “engage with it in a reasoned way.” The official said it could be “an important forum for those who struggle against tyranny and injustice in the world” and the American presence intends “to ensure that it can live up to that potential”.
The 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 will only have non-voting observer status on the council until the end of 2021, officials said the administration intends to apply for one of the three seats of a full member – currently held by Austria, Denmark and Italy – of the Western European and Other States’ group that will stand for election later this year.
The United Nations General Assembly makes the final choice in a vote that usually takes place in October of each year to fill vacancies for a three-year term on the council of 47 member states.
The United States’ engagement with the Council and its predecessor, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, has been a kind of political football between the Republican and Democratic administrations for decades. While acknowledging his shortcomings, Democratic presidents tended to want a seat at the table while Republicans backed down to his criticism of Israel.
Trump’s withdrawal from the UNHRC, however, was one of the many American entrenchments in the international community during his four years in power. He has also distanced himself from the Paris Climate Agreement, the Iranian nuclear deal, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization, UNESCO and several arms control treaties. Trump has also threatened to withdraw from the International Postal Union and has often referred to his withdrawal from the World Trade Organization.
Since taking office last month, President Joe Biden has joined both the Paris Agreement and the WHO and has expressed interest in a return to the agreement with Iran as well as UNESCO. .
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Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
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