By Emily Mangiaracina
President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday, citing its protection of “human rights abusers” who “use the organization to shield themselves from scrutiny.”
Trump’s executive order (EO) also announced that his administration would review funding and membership in other U.N. bodies, saying that they act “contrary to the interests” of the U.S. “while attacking our allies and propagating anti-Semitism.”
Regarding UNHRC, the EO states it “has protected human rights abusers by allowing them to use the organization to shield themselves from scrutiny,” presumably referring to countries including Iran and China, which have seats at the Council despite their extensive human rights violations, including their persecution and killing of Christians.
Pro-lifers have criticized the UNHRC for its staunch support for abortion, the killing of innocent preborn babies. Last year, the body adopted its first-ever resolution referring to “sexual and reproductive rights,” including the so-called “right” to abortion “access.”
When Trump first withdrew from the UNHRC in 2018, his ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, criticized the U.N. body for its “chronic bias against Israel” and for its inclusion of human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, and Venezuela.
At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the withdrawal “courageous,” describing it as “an unequivocal statement that enough is enough.”
UN Watch and pro-Israel factions have more recently found fault again with the UNHRC for issuing statements “highly critical of Israel’s military and humanitarian response in Gaza.” UN Watch highlighted, in particular, statements that lamented Israel’s killing of thousands of civilians in Israel and Gaza.
Even Israelis and Jews have accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, including Christians and Muslims. Israeli historian and Princeton professor Dr. Lee Mordechai has produced an online record that he says proves Israel is committing genocide, and a group of Jews recently gathered in London to protest what they also describe as “genocide” in Gaza.
While signing the EO on Tuesday, asked what the UN “would need to do to get their act together,” Trump said they had to “be fair to countries that deserve fairness,” adding, “There are countries that are outliers, that are very bad, and they’re almost being preferred as countries to those that do their job.”
The EO stated that the other UN bodies that “deserve renewed scrutiny” are the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The document accused UNESCO of continual “anti-Israel sentiment,” among other concerns, and ripped UNRWA for reported infiltration by “foreign terrorist organizations” and employee involvement in the “October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.”
