Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 16, 2025

UN Chief Welcomes US Decision To Re-Engage With Human Rights Council

UN Chief Welcomes US Decision To Re-Engage With Human Rights Council

Under the Trump administration, the US had withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council, condemning the "hypocrisy" of its members and its alleged "unrelenting bias" against Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the decision of the United States to re-engage with the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying the world organisation looks forward to hearing Washington's crucial voice across the Council's urgent work.

"The Human Rights Council is the world's leading forum for addressing the full range of human rights challenges. The Council's mechanisms and special procedures are vital tools for ensuring action and accountability," a statement issued by the UN Chief's spokesperson said Monday.

"The United Nations looks forward to hearing the crucial voice of the United States across the Council's urgent work," the statement said.

Under the Trump administration, the US had withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council, condemning the "hypocrisy" of its members and its alleged "unrelenting bias" against Israel.

"As Secretary Blinken said, effective use of multilateral tools is an important part of the Biden administration's recommitment to a US foreign policy centered on democracy, human rights, and equality," the US Mission to the UN said in a statement Monday, adding that the "best way" to realise this commitment is through "our continued engagement with allies, partners, non-governmental organisations, civil society, and multilateral organisations, including within the UN system."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said President Joe Biden has instructed the Department of State to reengage "immediately and robustly" with the UN Human Rights Council.

"We recognise that the Human Rights Council is a flawed body, in need of reform to its agenda, membership, and focus, including its disproportionate focus on Israel. However, our withdrawal in June 2018 did nothing to encourage meaningful change, but instead created a vacuum of US leadership, which countries with authoritarian agendas have used to their advantage," Antony Blinken said.

The US Mission to the UN added that Washington recognises the UN Human Rights Council has its flaws, "but we also believe it can help promote fundamental freedoms around the world."

"The only way we can ensure the Human Rights Council fulfills this important mandate is by being at the table as an observer and working with our partners and allies in a principled fashion to make it better."

The Mission added that through Washington's leadership on the UN Security Council and by reengaging with the Human Rights Council, "the United States will continue to fight for global peace and security, and to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms for all."

Antony Blinken said in the immediate term, the United States will engage with the Council as an observer, and in that capacity will have the "opportunity to speak in the Council, participate in negotiations, and partner with others to introduce resolutions. It is our view that the best way to improve the Council is to engage with it and its members in a principled fashion. We strongly believe that when the United States engages constructively with the Council, in concert with our allies and friends, positive change is within reach."

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that the Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights.

"Worse than that, the Human Rights Council has become an exercise in shameless hypocrisy - with many of the world's worst human rights abuses going ignored, and some of the world's most serious offenders sitting on the council itself," he had said as the US quit the Council.

Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had said the Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias.

She said she had made it clear to the Human Rights Council that the US will remain a part of it if essential reforms were achieved, reforms that were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights.

"Human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council. The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny, and the council continues politicising and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks," she had said.

In remarks at the Human Rights Council Organisational Meeting in Geneva, US Charge d'Affaires Mark Cassayre said the Joe Biden administration "believes in a foreign policy centered on democracy, human rights, and equality...Effective use of multilateral tools is an important element of that vision."

Cassayre added that "while recognising the Council's flaws, we know that this body has the potential to be an important forum for those fighting tyranny and injustice around the world. By being present at the table, we seek to ensure it can live up to that potential."

The Human Rights Council was created by the United Nations General Assembly in March 2006. The Council is made of 47 Member States, which are elected by the majority of members of the General Assembly of the United Nations through a direct and secret ballot.

Members of the Council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
×