The United Nations Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias for too long, and they’ve continually ignored calls from the U.S. to reform. That’s the reason – only partially paraphrased – that U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley announced Tuesday, June 19 that the U.S. would no longer be a member of the Council.
The UN, the anti-Trump media, and leftists the world over criticized the decision and rejected Haley’s stated reasons, preferring to ignore the facts and believe that the racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic Trump administration can’t bear to be in the presence of such white knights of human rights. But as we explained at Liberty Nation when we predicted exactly this, leaving the Council is precisely the right decision. And the UN’s response merely proves that we need to dump them entirely.
Hypocrisy and Political Bias
Stéphane Dujarric
“The Secretary-General would have much preferred for the United States to remain in the Human Rights Council,” said the Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric. He then stated: “The UN’s Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide.”
But a quick look at the 47-country list of members shows that the Council is in the hands of some of the most egregious human rights violators in the world. And, if they genuinely wanted the U.S. to remain, why has the Council dedicated so much time and energy persecuting Israel and attempting to punish the United States for standing against it? Would those resources not have been better spent protecting human rights?
When the Trump administration moved our embassy to Jerusalem in recognition of Israel’s true capital, he merely kept the longstanding promise betrayed by those who preceded him. Did the UN praise Trump for his integrity or for recognizing and respecting the other nation’s sovereignty? Of course not. They attempted to punish the U.S. and nullify Trump’s decision. Yet the UN doesn’t seem to expect any other country to hold its capital in any city not of its own choosing.
Leftist Media Spin
Rather than address the allegations and evidence that so many member nations routinely ignore the rights of their people, the leftist media strings together various actions by the Trump administration to portray the United States as if we are the worst of the whole bunch.
The enforcement of immigration laws is racist, of course. Trump’s just a big Islamophobe – naturally. Why, those hypocrites in the Trump administration have even dealt with Saudi Arabia, China, and Egypt – all nations with human rights records that are questionable at best – and the president personally met with Kim Jong Un, the North Korean despot. Who are they to criticize the UN? Never mind the fact that the meeting with Un was in the interest of deescalating nuclear tensions and bringing stability and peace to the region, or that Saudi Arabia, China, and Egypt are all on the UN’s Human Rights Council.
For any still wondering why the media big-wigs would ignore the grave allegations made against the Council and choose instead to rely on the old leftist standby of calling opponents racist, it’s because that’s the only option they see before them. Rather than admit to being wrong, they either ignore the challenge or try to deflect. No one should be surprised to find that CNN, The New York Times, or The Washington Post have the same globalist, anti-American, and anti-Israel bias as the UN in general.
The Right Choice
Vice President Pence explained it well when he said the elevation of human rights violators mocks the Council, its members, and the mission for which it was founded:
Today the U.S. took a stand against some of the world’s worst human rights violators by withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/KyICyXh3XI
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) June 19, 2018
Some have pointed out that by leaving the Council entirely, the U.S. loses some ability to defend Israel and fight for human rights in general. Perhaps they are right. However, we have been defending Israel and fighting for human rights against the very group ostensibly dedicated to those rights. The blatant hypocrisy and bias can’t be ignored. The Council – indeed, the entire UN – is not going to change, no matter how loudly we protest.
All that could improve the situation is if the United States, which funds about 22% of the entire budget for the 193-nation group, cuts ties entirely. So long as we continue to pay the billions per year for our membership, we endorse with our dollars the very behavior we condemn. Only by leaving the UN entirely – and cutting off our cash flow to the group and its other member nations – is there a chance that we can starve this would-be totalitarian empire into respecting national sovereignty and human rights.
