US President Joe Biden continues to fight for the legacy of his predecessor Donald Trump: The current administration in Washington announced today (Monday) its return to the UN Human Rights Council, three years after Trump left it due to its problematic conduct vis-Ã -vis Israel and the lack of reform processes in the organization based in Geneva.
Secretary of State Anthony Blink is the one who announced the move. “When we work closely with our allies and comrades, we can come to terms with the worst countries in terms of human rights violations,” tweeted Linken, adding that “the American leadership is important.”
Earlier, a senior US official told Reuters that “the way to lead effective reform processes in the council is a way to be in it.” He said, “The council has the potential to be an important framework for those fighting tyranny and injustice around the world. With our presence, we want to reform and ensure the realization of the potential in the organization.”
Ann Herzberg, legal adviser to the NGO Monitor research institute and one who leads the institute’s activities at the UN, explained that “in a perfect world, it would have been good for the US to be the main voice in the council. But in practice, it is legitimizing an institution ruled by dictatorships.”
Herzberg added that “anyone familiar with the council’s work knows that it has achieved very little, while providing a platform for the greatest human rights violators and incessant condemnation of Israel. The Obama administration has failed to pass the required reforms in the council, and the chances of the Biden administration succeeding are slim.”
UN Human Rights Council / Photo: AFP
The UN Human Rights Council is expected to convene later this month. The organization has 47 member states elected by the UN General Assembly on a continental basis. Today, among the members of the council are countries known as human rights violators – such as China, whose dealings with the Uyghur minority are known to all; Russia that took care to arrest opposition leader Alexei Navalny shortly after returning from treatment for his poisoning; And Cuba.