The U.S. will return as an observer country to the United Nations Human Rights Council, an institution it left in mid-2018, the U.S. delegation confirmed today at a meeting in Geneva.
U.S. diplomat Mark J.Cassayre confirmed the U.S. return, which will also be announced today from Washington by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and stressed that “it is the most effective way to reform and improve the Council.”
“We recognize flaws in this Council, but we know that the body has the potential to be an important forum in the fight against tyrannies and injustices around the world,” the U.S. delegate assured.
During the Trump presidency, the U.S. left the body over claims of a partial and biased attitude against Israel, as well the participation of major human rights abusers including China, Venezuela and Cuba.
With the return to the council, which holds three annual meetings, “the United States reaffirms its commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights around the world”, said Cassayre, who assured that the new administration led by Joe Biden “believes in a foreign policy focused on democracy, human rights and equality.”
The U.S. return to the council, which begins its next meeting at the end of this month, could be an indication of how the Biden administration will act in the face of the totalitarian regimes that have taken over this space, and will show the path that the new administration will take in foreign policy.
