Biden Rejoins UN Human Rights Council

Last Monday, the Biden Administration officially had the US rejoin the UN Human Rights Council. This was a highly controversial move that paints our country in an unfortunate light. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken feels that with America, the council “can serve as an important forum for those fighting injustice and tyranny.” However, there is a caveat to his rationale.

The council was established to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” However, their mission is a flawed failure from the start, considering more than half of the nation-states on the council have Freedom House Ratings of “not free” or “partly free,” meaning most of the people making the rules regarding human rights represent people who are lacking crucial elements of a free society.

While fighting against tyranny is noble, it is questionable how the US will get countries like Russia, China, Cuba, and Venezuela to cooperate in this plan. With authoritarian regimes receiving representation on the council they will be fighting to protect their way of life not fighting to make the world a freer and better place overall.

Biden’s vision of world cooperation is a utopian dream that can never be fully realized. The UN Human Rights Council does not equally apply the rule of law to each state as, as seen by the fact it has produced eight commissions to sanction Israel and only one for North Korea. They seem to be operating with the perception that Israel is a greater threat to the world than North Korea, even though North Korea is a notorious totalitarian regime.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was also wary of the council, confessing, “The UN Human Rights Council is a cesspool of political bias that makes a mockery of human rights. If Biden rejoins the council whose membership includes dictatorial regimes & some of the world’s worst human rights violators, it will fly in the face of our fight for human rights.”

Nevertheless, Biden did not heed her warning and will now sit at the table of dictators and the world’s worst rulers. When the Chinese Communist Party is committing genocide against millions of Uighurs, and Putin is arresting thousands of Russians for protesting Alexei Navalny’s arrest, the US will now attempt to partner with these countries rather than condemn them.

This plan is doomed to fail, and with countries who suppress their citizens on the council, it is doubtful that it will ever achieve its goals like Biden and his supporters so desperately want.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/10/team-bidens-foolish-rush-to-rejoin-the-un-tyrants-club/

https://thehill.com/policy/international/human-rights/535759-nikki-haley-if-biden-rejoins-human-rights-council-it-will?rl=1

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/conservatives-slam-biden-bid-to-rejoin-u-n-human-rights-council/

https://www.heritage.org/civil-rights/commentary/america-should-not-have-rejoined-the-flawed-united-nations-human-rights