Nikki Haley Lays Out Reform Agenda for UN Human Rights Council

[Valin]

Real Clear World

Brett Schaefer
June 16, 2017

 

Earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sent a letter to human rights groups telling them that Washington was evaluating the U.N. Human Rights Council and that continued U.S. participation would depend on considerable reform of the body. Tillerson did not elaborate on the kinds of reforms the United States wanted. But in a speech delivered last week before the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley provided the long-awaited details.

She began with a brief history of the United Nations’ handling of human rights issues. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights, she noted, failed to live up to its responsibilities, so much so that former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called for replacing it with a new body: the current Human Rights Council. Unfortunately, the council remains plagued by the same flaws that led to the demise of the old commission. The council’s three biggest problems are:

 

(Snip)

 

To legitimately fulfill its mandate, the council must be a reliable, fair, and impartial advocate for human rights and fundamental freedoms. No nation is perfect and neither will the council, made up of imperfect states, ever be perfect. But the United States is right to expect better.

If other nations refuse to adopt Ambassador Haley’s reasonable reforms, it will be a clear sign that they prefer the flawed, overly politicized rights council we have today. In that case, the United States would be justified in looking elsewhere to advance human rights. 

[Valin]

Published on Jun 6, 2017

Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley remarks "A Place for Conscience: The Future of the United States in the Human Rights Council," in Geneva, Switzerland on June 6, 2017. Transcript is available at https://usun.state.gov/remarks/7828.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih6tTun9zrg

Full Speech and Q&A...forward to 20:00 mark

 

I Nikki!!!