America has threatened to pull out of the UN Human Rights Council because of its “chronic anti-Israel bias”.
Nikki Haley, the country’s ambassador to the UN, has announced that the Trump administration is reconsidering its involvement in the Geneva-based forum.
“The United States is looking carefully at this council and our participation in it. We see some areas for significant strengthening,” she said.
She told the council - which is made up of 47 member countries and has just begun a three-week session - that America believes the body has “some areas for significant strengthening”.
This is not the first time the issue has arisen and Washington has long argued that the body is weighted in favour of Israel’s opponents. Former president George W Bush boycotted the council for three years, but America rejoined under Barack Obama in 2009.
Ms Haley cited five “biased” resolutions on Israel and the Palestinian territory that the council adopted in March, and questioned why it never considered a resolution on Venezuela’s human rights violations.
Due to chair an event on the situation in Venezuela later today, she said: "Venezuela should voluntarily step down from its seat on the Human Rights Council until it can get its own house in order. Being a member of this council is a privilege, and no country who is a human rights violator should be allowed a seat at the table.”
The speech was criticised by some including Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union, who said: “The United States must get its own house in order and make human rights at home a priority - then, it can begin to credibly demand the same of other countries abroad.”
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