U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley speaks to the media in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 24, 2017.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. announced Tuesday it was pulling out of the United Nations' Human Rights Council, issuing a blistering critique of the group, including accusations of protecting countries after they commit human rights abuses.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, standing beside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, made the announcement Tuesday evening at the State Department. It came amid the fiery criticism wrapped around immigrant children being separated from their parents and the Human Rights Council's calls for the Trump administration to halt the practice because it runs "counter to human rights standards."

Haley's nine-minute statement accused the council of sticking up for countries that abuse their citizens without repercussions and a bias against U.S. ally Israel, calling the Geneva-based body a "cesspool of political bias."

She said the 47-nation group needs "major, dramatic, systemic changes, yet no other county has had the courage to join our fight" and leave the body. Haley called out the group for admitting Congo as a member when mass graves were discovered in the country. She also cited Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Egypt, China and Russia among the countries who attempted to undermine reforms within the council.

"I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments," Haley said. "On the contrary. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights."

The decision will leave the U.S. without a vote and instead become an observer on the body, which aims to promote human rights around the globe. The head of the council called the move disappointing.

"Disappointing, if not really surprising, news," Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad said over Twitter. "Given the state of #HumanRights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back."

Tuesday's announcement marks just the latest international group that the U.S. has elected to leave.

Most recently, President Trump said the U.S. would not endorse a joint statement after the Group of 7 economic meeting with U.S. allies after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made statements the president perceived as false.

The U.S. also pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord.</s>The Trump administration announced Tuesday that the U.S. would be leaving the United Nations' main human rights body.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the announcement at the State Department.

Haley said the council was "not worthy of its name."

Haley threatened the pull-out last year, citing longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. But the announcement will also come just a day after the U.N. human rights chief denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents.

The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy.

Officials say Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will deliver the verdict on the U.N. Human Rights Council in a joint appearance at the State Department on Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly preview the decision.

Haley threatened the pull-out last year, citing longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. But Tuesday's announcement also comes just a day after the U.N. human rights chief denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents.

It also extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy.

Since taking office, the administration has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, the U.N. educational and cultural organization and the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv.

Haley has been the driving force behind the move, which would be unprecedented in the 12-year history of the council. No country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago.

The move could reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is seeking to advance Israel's agenda on the world stage, just as it prepares to unveil its long-awaited peace plan despite Palestinian outrage over the embassy relocation. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Middle East this week as the White House works to lay the groundwork for unveiling the plan.

Last year, Haley warned the Geneva-based council that the U.S. would withdraw if it did not end its systematic scrutiny of Israel and its alleged rights abuses against Palestinians.

She denounced the council as a "forum for politics, hypocrisy and evasion" and accused member countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, China, Burundi and Saudi Arabia of failing to fulfill their duties to "uphold the highest standards" of human rights, while emphasizing what she said was the council's anti-Israel bias.

Since last year, Haley's office has also pushed the council and its chief not to publish a U.N. database of companies operating in West Bank settlements, a so-called blacklist that Israel is concerned could drive companies away and cast a further pall over its presence in the Palestinian-claimed West Bank.

Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under "Item 7" on the agenda.

The officials said the administration had concluded that its efforts to promote reform on the council had failed and that withdrawal was the only step it could take to demonstrate its seriousness. It was not immediately clear if the U.S. would remain a non-voting observer on the council.

A full pullout by the U.S. would leave the council without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. In recent months, the United States has participated in attempts to pinpoint rights violations in places like South Sudan, Congo and Cambodia.

There are 47 countries in the Human Rights Council, elected by the U.N.'s General Assembly with a specific number of seats allocated for each region of the globe. Members serve for three-year terms and can only serve two terms in a row.

The United States has opted to stay out of the Human Rights Council before: the administration of President George W. Bush did so when the council was created in 2006. Item 7 on "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories" has been part of the council's regular business almost as long as it has existed.

A pullout could be largely symbolic: The United States' current term on the council ends next year, when it could revert to the observer status held by other countries that are not members. In that situation, the U.S. would be able to speak out on rights abuses, but not to vote.

A key question will be where a U.S. pullout would leave Israel if its biggest and most powerful defender abandons its voting rights or drops out of the council altogether.

The State Department's web site says protection of fundamental human rights was a "foundation stone" for the United States' creation over two centuries ago and that promoting respect for human rights since has been a "central goal" of U.S. foreign policy.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>WASHINGTON — The U.S. announced Tuesday it was pulling out of the United Nations' Human Rights Council, issuing a blistering critique of the group, including accusations of protecting countries after they commit human rights abuses.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley speaks to the media in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 24, 2017.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, standing beside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, made the announcement Tuesday evening at the State Department. It came amid the fiery criticism wrapped around immigrant children being separated from their parents and the Human Rights Council's calls for the Trump administration to halt the practice because it runs "counter to human rights standards."

Haley's nine-minute statement accused the council of sticking up for countries that abuse their citizens without repercussions and a bias against U.S. ally Israel, calling the Geneva-based body a "cesspool of political bias."

She said the 47-nation group needs "major, dramatic, systemic changes, yet no other country has had the courage to join our fight" and leave the body. Haley called out the group for admitting Congo as a member when mass graves were discovered there. She also cited Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Egypt, China and Russia among the countries who attempted to undermine reforms within the council.

"I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments," Haley said. "On the contrary. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights."

The decision will leave the U.S. without a vote and instead be sidelined from the body, which aims to promote human rights around the globe. The head of the council called the move disappointing.

"Disappointing, if not really surprising, news," Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad said via Twitter. "Given the state of #HumanRights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back."

Tuesday's announcement marks just the latest international group that the U.S. has elected to leave.

Most recently, President Trump said the U.S. would not endorse a joint statement after the Group of 7 economic meeting with American allies after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made statements the president perceived as false.

The U.S. also pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord.

Vice President Mike Pence said the move showed the U.S. was taking a stand against the "world's worst human rights violators," saying that over the years, the council has engaged in a "virulent anti-American, and anti-Israel invective."

"By elevating and protecting human rights violators and engaging in smear campaigns against democratic nations, the UNHRC makes a mockery of itself, its members, and the mission it was founded on," he said in a Twitter post.

The decision, though, became another point of criticism targeting the Trump administration. Congressman David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, called it a "serious mistake" that would now allow "flagrant human rights abusers" to determine the group's actions.

"The Human Rights Council is not perfect but it is far better to stay engaged and maintain U.S. influence, which has had a positive effect since joining the Council in 2009, than to cede the forum to those who have no interest in protecting fundamental freedoms," Cicilline said. 

 

 He added it was "unsurprising, however, that the Administration would choose to leave the Council at the same time as it is perpetrating human rights abuses against immigrant children within our own borders, a policy that the United Nations and other countries have rightly condemned."

More: U.N. human rights chief: U.S. policy on migrant children ‘unconscionable’

More: U.N. Human Rights office to U.S.: Halt Trump policy separating kids from parents at border</s>The United States announced Tuesday it was leaving the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, with Ambassador Nikki Haley calling it “an organization that is not worthy of its name.” It was the latest withdrawal by the Trump administration from an international institution.

Haley, Trump’s envoy to the U.N., said the U.S. had given the human rights body “opportunity after opportunity” to make changes. She lambasted the council for “its chronic bias against Israel” and lamented the fact that its membership includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights,” Haley said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alongside Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a “noble vision.”

But today we need to be honest,” Pompeo said. “The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights.”

The announcement came just a day after the U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. But Haley, cited longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. She had been threatening the pull-out since last year unless the council made changes advocated by the U.S.

“Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded,” Haley said.

Still, she suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, “we would be happy to rejoin it.” She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the U.S. would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations.

The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president’s “America First” policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that “America First does not mean America Alone,” the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office.

Since January 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the U.N. educational and cultural organization and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Opposition to the decision from human rights advocates was swift. A group of 12 organizations including Save the Children, Freedom House and the United Nations Association – USA said there were “legitimate concerns” about the council’s shortcomings but that none of them warranted a U.S. exit.

“This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world,” the organizations said in a joint statement.

Added Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch: “All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel.”

But the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank close to the Trump administration, defended the move, calling the council “notably incurious about the human rights situations in some of the world’s most oppressive countries.” Brett Schaefer, a senior fellow, pointed out that Trump could have withdrawn immediately after taking office but instead gave the council 18 months to make changes.

Haley has been the driving force behind withdrawing from the human rights body, unprecedented in the 12-year history of the council. No country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago.

The move could reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is seeking to advance Israel’s agenda on the world stage, just as it prepares to unveil its long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan despite Palestinian outrage over the embassy relocation. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Middle East this week as the White House works to lay the groundwork for unveiling the plan.

Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under “Item 7” on the agenda. Item 7 on “Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories” has been part of the council’s regular business almost as long as it has existed.

The United States’ current term on the council ends next year. It was not immediately clear if the U.S. would remain a non-voting observer on the council. A full pullout by the U.S. would leave the council without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. In recent months, the United States has participated in attempts to pinpoint rights violations in places like South Sudan, Congo and Cambodia. Either way, the U.S. pullout was bound to have ripple effects for at least two countries at the council: China and Israel. The U.S., as at other U.N. organizations, is Israel’s biggest defender. At the rights council, the United States has recently been the most unabashed critic of rights abuses in China — whose growing economic and diplomatic clout has chastened some other would-be critics, rights advocates say. There are 47 countries in the Human Rights Council, elected by the U.N.’s General Assembly with a specific number of seats allocated for each region of the globe. Members serve for three-year terms and can serve only two terms in a row. The United States has opted to stay out of the Human Rights Council before: The George W. Bush administration opted against seeking membership when the council was created in 2006. The U.S. joined the body only in 2009 under President Barack Obama.</s>U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley speaks to the media in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 24, 2017.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. announced Tuesday it was pulling out of the United Nations' Human Rights Council, issuing a blistering critique of the group, including accusations of protecting countries after they commit human rights abuses.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, standing beside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, made the announcement Tuesday evening at the State Department. It came amid the fiery criticism wrapped around immigrant children being separated from their parents and the Human Rights Council's calls for the Trump administration to halt the practice because it runs "counter to human rights standards."

Haley's nine-minute statement accused the council of sticking up for countries that abuse their citizens without repercussions and a bias against U.S. ally Israel, calling the Geneva-based body a "cesspool of political bias."

She said the 47-nation group needs "major, dramatic, systemic changes, yet no other county has had the courage to join our fight" and leave the body. Haley called out the group for admitting Congo as a member when mass graves were discovered in the country. She also cited Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Egypt, China and Russia among the countries who attempted to undermine reforms within the council.

"I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments," Haley said. "On the contrary. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights."

The decision will leave the U.S. without a vote and instead become an observer on the body, which aims to promote human rights around the globe. The head of the council called the move disappointing.

"Disappointing, if not really surprising, news," Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad said over Twitter. "Given the state of #HumanRights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back."

Tuesday's announcement marks just the latest international group that the U.S. has elected to leave.

Most recently, President Trump said the U.S. would not endorse a joint statement after the Group of 7 economic meeting with U.S. allies after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made statements the president perceived as false.

The U.S. also pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord.</s>The Trump administration announced Tuesday that the U.S. would be leaving the United Nations' main human rights body.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the announcement at the State Department.

Haley said the council was "not worthy of its name."

She explained that a year ago she made clear the U.S. would stay in the council only if "essential reforms were achieved." She says it's clear those calls for change were not heeded.

Haley is decrying the membership of countries like China, Cuba and Venezuela that are themselves accused of rights violations. She says the council also has a "chronic bias against Israel."

But Haley says that if the council does reform, the United States "would be happy to rejoin."

Haley announced the withdrawal at the State Department alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy.

Officials say Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will deliver the verdict on the U.N. Human Rights Council in a joint appearance at the State Department on Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly preview the decision.

Haley threatened the pull-out last year, citing longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. But Tuesday's announcement also comes just a day after the U.N. human rights chief denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents.

It also extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy.

Since taking office, the administration has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, the U.N. educational and cultural organization and the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv.

Haley has been the driving force behind the move, which would be unprecedented in the 12-year history of the council. No country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago.

The move could reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is seeking to advance Israel's agenda on the world stage, just as it prepares to unveil its long-awaited peace plan despite Palestinian outrage over the embassy relocation. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Middle East this week as the White House works to lay the groundwork for unveiling the plan.

Last year, Haley warned the Geneva-based council that the U.S. would withdraw if it did not end its systematic scrutiny of Israel and its alleged rights abuses against Palestinians.

She denounced the council as a "forum for politics, hypocrisy and evasion" and accused member countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, China, Burundi and Saudi Arabia of failing to fulfill their duties to "uphold the highest standards" of human rights, while emphasizing what she said was the council's anti-Israel bias.

Since last year, Haley's office has also pushed the council and its chief not to publish a U.N. database of companies operating in West Bank settlements, a so-called blacklist that Israel is concerned could drive companies away and cast a further pall over its presence in the Palestinian-claimed West Bank.

Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under "Item 7" on the agenda.

The officials said the administration had concluded that its efforts to promote reform on the council had failed and that withdrawal was the only step it could take to demonstrate its seriousness. It was not immediately clear if the U.S. would remain a non-voting observer on the council.

A full pullout by the U.S. would leave the council without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. In recent months, the United States has participated in attempts to pinpoint rights violations in places like South Sudan, Congo and Cambodia.

There are 47 countries in the Human Rights Council, elected by the U.N.'s General Assembly with a specific number of seats allocated for each region of the globe. Members serve for three-year terms and can only serve two terms in a row.

The United States has opted to stay out of the Human Rights Council before: the administration of President George W. Bush did so when the council was created in 2006. Item 7 on "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories" has been part of the council's regular business almost as long as it has existed.

A pullout could be largely symbolic: The United States' current term on the council ends next year, when it could revert to the observer status held by other countries that are not members. In that situation, the U.S. would be able to speak out on rights abuses, but not to vote.

A key question will be where a U.S. pullout would leave Israel if its biggest and most powerful defender abandons its voting rights or drops out of the council altogether.

The State Department's web site says protection of fundamental human rights was a "foundation stone" for the United States' creation over two centuries ago and that promoting respect for human rights since has been a "central goal" of U.S. foreign policy.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>THE PERFORMANCE of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council is quite mixed. It has proved a useful platform to air the plight of the injured and dispossessed, but it has also been vulnerable to manipulation by the oppressors. That said, the United States’ decision to withdraw from the council is a counterproductive step and another sign of President Trump’s retreat from global leadership. The administration is picking up its marbles and leaving rather than staying to fight for human dignity.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is correct that the council includes members who are repeated and serious human rights abusers; that Israel has been pummeled out of all proportion; and that the council has resisted change. But these deficiencies must also be considered against the vital need for a credible U.N. body on human rights with U.S. participation.

Five years ago, the council ordered the creation of a Commission of Inquiry into the human rights situation in North Korea. That inquiry produced evidence of “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations” in the closed country. A commission to investigate human rights in South Sudan, also created by the council, identified more than 40 military officials who “may bear individual responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” and identified appalling stories of child soldiering, horrific mutilations and sexual violence.

In other cases, the council has been a useful stage for individual accounts of repression, such as the appearance there in March 2013 by Rosa María Payá , seeking an international investigation of the death of her father, Oswaldo Payá, a champion of nonviolent democratic change in Cuba, who was killed in a suspicious car wreck the year before. Of course, it was offensive to hear delegates from Cuba, Russia, China, Pakistan, Nicaragua and Belarus interrupt her. That has long been part of the problem, that repressive regimes cast a shadow over the council’s work — and do so with swagger. But the United States stood fast for Ms. Payá’s right to speak, and she continued, though no investigation resulted.

However flawed the council’s work has been, walking away rewards all the oppressors, who undoubtedly will be thrilled that they no longer face lectures from the United States. What good will come from pulling out? Will it change the behavior of the regimes for the better? Will it make the council more effective? We don’t think so. The decision to walk away is in keeping with Mr. Trump’s lack of interest in human rights elsewhere, glad-handing autocrats and dictators with nary a word about their bone-crushing repressions. A real commitment to human rights would be to stay in the council and use the bully pulpit to confront the bullies.</s>Haley said Tuesday the U.S. had given the human rights body “opportunity after opportunity” to make changes. She lambasted the council for “its chronic bias against Israel” and lamented the fact that its membership includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo.

WASHINGTON—The United States is leaving the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, which Ambassador Nikki Haley called “an organization that is not worthy of its name.” It’s the latest withdrawal by the Trump administration from an international institution.

But today we need to be honest,” Pompeo said. “The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alongside Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a “noble vision.”

“We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights,” Haley said.

Still, she suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, “we would be happy to rejoin it.” She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the U.S. would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations.

“Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded,” Haley said.

The announcement came just a day after the UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. But Haley cited long-standing U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. She had been threatening the pullout since last year unless the council made changes advocated by the U.S.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the U.S. decision “courageous,” calling it “an unequivocal statement that enough is enough.”

The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president’s “America First” policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that “America First does not mean America Alone,” the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office.

Since January 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the UN educational and cultural organization and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Opposition to the decision from human rights advocates was swift. A group of 12 organizations including Save the Children, Freedom House and the United Nations Association-USA said there were “legitimate concerns” about the council’s shortcomings but that none of them warranted a U.S. exit.

“This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world,” the organizations said in a joint statement.

Added Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch: “All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel.”

On Twitter, al-Hussein, the UN human rights chief, said it was “Disappointing, if not really surprising, news. Given the state of #HumanRights in today’s world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back.”

And the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank close to the Trump administration, defended the move, calling the council “notably incurious about the human rights situations in some of the world’s most oppressive countries.” Brett Schaefer, a senior fellow, pointed out that Trump could have withdrawn immediately after taking office but instead gave the council 18 months to make changes.

Haley has been the driving force behind withdrawing from the human rights body, unprecedented in the 12-year history of the council. No country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago.

The move could reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is seeking to advance Israel’s agenda on the world stage, just as it prepares to unveil its long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan despite Palestinian outrage over the embassy relocation. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Middle East this week as the White House works to lay the groundwork for unveiling the plan.

Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under “Item 7” on the agenda. Item 7 on “Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories” has been part of the council’s regular business almost as long as it has existed.

The United States’ current term on the council ends next year. Although the U.S. could have remained a non-voting observer on the council, a U.S. official said it was a “complete withdrawal” and that the United States was resigning its seat “effective immediately.” The official wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and insisted on anonymity.

That means the council will be left without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. In recent months, the United States has participated in attempts to pinpoint rights violations in places like South Sudan, Congo and Cambodia.

The U.S. pullout was bound to have ripple effects for at least two countries at the council: China and Israel. The U.S., as at other UN organizations, is Israel’s biggest defender. At the rights council, the United States has recently been the most unabashed critic of rights abuses in China — whose growing economic and diplomatic clout has chastened some other would-be critics, rights advocates say.

The Chinese government expressed regret over Washington’s decision to pull out of the council. In Beijing, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the council is “an important platform” for countries to discuss human rights and that Beijing has been committed to supporting the group’s work.

But the Chinese government is often accused by Western countries of human rights violations and by rights groups of seeking to undermine the mechanisms of the UN human rights council. In March, a Chinese diplomat repeatedly interrupted a speech by a prominent Chinese dissident to block him from addressing the UN Human Rights Council, a failed attempt that bared China’s sensitivity on human rights.

The foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, dismissed the U.S. criticism that the council is problematic because it includes China and other authoritarian governments, saying that claim is “a total disregard of facts.” ‘’Everyone without bias can see clearly China’s great achievement and progress in terms of human rights,” Geng said.

There are 47 countries in the Human Rights Council, elected by the UN’s General Assembly with a specific number of seats allocated for each region of the globe. Members serve for three-year terms and can serve only two terms in a row.

The United States has opted to stay out of the Human Rights Council before: The George W. Bush administration opted against seeking membership when the council was created in 2006. The U.S. joined the body only in 2009 under President Barack Obama.</s>In response to the Trump administration 's decision to withdraw the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council , Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray Caso posted a press release on June 20 sharing Mexico's thoughts on the U.S.'s withdrawal.

“Mexico’s government laments the United States of America’s decision to no longer participate in the United Nations Human Rights Council,” the release reads . It continued by acknowledging the need to participate in the council now more than ever, since there is a challenge in protecting the human rights of everyone, “in particular of groups in situations of vulnerability, such as children and adolescents , people with disabilities, migrants, indigenous communities, and LGBTI persons , among others.”

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the decision to leave the council on June 19, calling the organization "a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias." The release from Caso came on the same day Trump reversed course on the new policy of separating parents and children after they crossed the border; that policy took effect because of the administration’s zero-tolerance policy , which resulted in prosecutions for all border crossers.

Although the U.S. decided to withdraw, Mexico’s government believes the U.S. is still responsible for complying with its international obligations, like every other country. “The Mexican government is convinced that multilateralism is the best way to face global challenges, and that today more than ever it is fundamental to defend and strengthen the institutions that countries have built to have spaces of convergence and mutual understanding,” Caso stated in the press release.

Determined to continue the mission behind the Human Rights Council, regardless of the U.S.'s withdrawal, Mexico said it will continue to be an active member of the council.

"Without prejudice to the determination of the government of the United States, its departure from the Council does not exempt it from complying with its international obligations regarding the promotion and protection of human rights, like any other State," the statement said. "The Mexican government is convinced that multilateralism is the best way to face global challenges, and that today more than ever it is fundamental to defend and strengthen the institutions that countries have built to have spaces of convergence and mutual understanding."

Some consider asylum to be a human right, and Amnesty International notes that many asylum seekers are fleeing human rights violations against them. Trump administration officials had discussed using family separation as a way to discourage asylum seekers prior to the policy's taking effect.

According to Human Rights Watch, both Mexico and the U.S. have blemishes on their human rights records. Both nations have issues with abuses in their criminal justice systems and with codifying LGBTQ rights under the law. Just last year, according to Human Rights Watch , the U.N. Committee on Migrant Workers called on Mexico to “only use the detention of migrants as a measure of last resort” and to “immediately put an end to” the practice of detaining migrant children.

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Want more from Teen Vogue ? Check this out: 5 Reasons Activists Are Calling for the Abolition of ICE</s>BEIJING (Reuters) - China expressed regret on Wednesday over a U.S. decision to withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council, with state media saying the image of the United States as a defender of rights was “on the verge of collapse”.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley delivers remarks to the press together with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, announcing the U.S.'s withdrawal from the U.N's Human Rights Council at the Department of State in Washington, U.S., June 19, 2018. REUTERS/Toya Sarno Jordan

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the decision to pull out of the council on Tuesday over what she said was chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform.

Rights group have criticized the decision as sending a message that the United States was turning a blind eye to abuses across the world.

“China expresses regret at the U.S. decision to withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular briefing.

“China will continue, working with all sides, to make its contribution to the healthy development of human rights around the world via constructive dialogue and cooperation,” he added.

Asked about U.S. criticism of China’s rights record, Geng said the United States was ignoring the facts and that anyone who was without prejudice could see the enormous progress China had made on rights.

The official publication of China’s top anti-graft watchdog said in a commentary on Wednesday the U.S. decision to leave the council “has put the American peoples’ boastful image of being a defender of human rights on the verge of collapse”.

The separation of immigrant families on the U.S.-Mexico border showed the hypocrisy of the United States and that it “cannot and should not” criticize other countries’ rights record, it said.

Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the United States imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China regularly rejects criticism of its human rights record and points to its success at lifting millions out of poverty.

But the ruling Communist Party brooks no political dissent and since President Xi Jinping took office dozens of rights lawyers and activists have been arrested or jailed in a crackdown activists say is worse than any in decades.

Beijing also releases an annual report lambasting the United States for its rights problems, invariably citing racism, political standards and gun violence.
China expresses regret over the United States' decision to leave the United Nations Human Rights Council.