U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley made the U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council official on Tuesday, calling the group “hypocritical and self-serving” and claiming it “makes a mockery of human rights,” according to the BBC.
The move, which was widely expected, comes amid controversy over the Trump Administration’s policy of separating immigrant families and children at the U.S. border, a policy that the United Nations has strongly condemned.
For her part, Haley previously criticized the UNHRC for its supposed “chronic anti-Israel bias” and threatened to remove the United States from the council.
This is not the first time the U.S. has tested its relationship with the council, which was formed in 2006. Under President George W. Bush, the United States refused a seat on the council for several years BECAUSE WHY??? while offering financial support. Under President Barack Obama’s administration, the U.S. officially joined the UNHRC in 2009.
Condemning the U.S. pull out now, influential NGO Human Rights Watch called President Trump’s human rights policy “one-dimensional.”
This is the first time since the Human Rights Council was founded that a serving member nation has voluntarily left the group.
