In yet another unilateral approach to international issues, the Trump administration has walked out of the United Nations Human Rights Council calling it a "cesspool of political bias" and a hypocritical body that "makes mockery of human rights." The cause of its annoyance is the council's criticism of Israel's atrocities in the occupied territories. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately came out to praise the move as a "courageous decision." Since March 30 when Palestinians started protest demonstrations - near the fence erected by Israel - to assert their right of return to their homes from where their families were expelled 70 years ago - Netanyahu's soldiers have killed more than 129 unarmed protesters, including five journalists and a nurse. The killings have drawn universal condemnation.
The decision to withdraw from UNHRC is not surprising considering that the US had refused to join it at the time of its inception in 2006. It was not until 2009 that President Barack Obama decided to participate in its activities winning two consecutive membership elections. The objection then, as at present, has been that it lets in countries with questionable human rights records. Indeed, many of the council's 47 members, elected for a three-year term, have a very poor record as regards human rights. Nonetheless, under a process known as the Universal Periodic Review, at least they are asked to explain actions taken to improve human rights. The US' problem seems to be that, unlike in UN Security Council where it wields veto power to reject the will of the majority of the Council it enjoys no such privileged position inside the UNHRC. Interestingly but unsurprising, while lambasting the rights organisation, the countries US ambassador to the UN, Nicky Haley, accused of an "appalling disrespect for the most basic rights" belonged to the opposite camp: China, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and the Democratic Republic of Congo. None of the US' own allies, notorious for their disregard of basic rights, were mentioned.
The US' own record on the subject is a lot less than satisfactory. President Trump has come under severe criticism at home and abroad for his biased policies - bordering on racism - especially the ban on the citizens of several Muslim countries from entering the US, and his latest decision (later reversed following ceaseless denunciation) to separate children from their parents at the Mexican border. The policy elicited strong censure from, among others, the American Civil Liberties Union, which said that the Trump administration was leading a "concerted, aggressive effort to violate basic human rights." It is also worth recalling what Trump had to say in an interview during his election campaign on the use of the dreadful torture technique "water boarding", employed by the Bush administration at Guantanamo Bay prison. "I'd do much worse", he said, "don't tell me it doesn't work, torture works... believe me, it works." In his characteristic hubris, he thought he could deride the international law and conventions against the use of torture. In the same vein, he has now turned around to accuse others, without substantiating evidence, of "making mockery of human rights."