U.S. to leave UN human rights council

The Trump administration plans to announce Tuesday the United States’ departure from the United Nations Human Rights Council. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley threatened the withdrawal last year, complaining that the 47-member council was biased against Israel. She warned the United States would leave the council if it did not end its systematic scrutiny of Israel and alleged Israeli rights abuses against Palestinians. Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up at every human rights council session—on the agenda as Item 7, “Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” Tuesday’s announcement, which Haley and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are expected to make, follows a day after the UN human rights chief denounced the Trump administration for separating some migrant children from their parents. No country has ever dropped out of the group voluntarily, though Libya was kicked out seven years ago.