GENEVA: US envoy Nikki Haley on Tuesday urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to throw out abusive regimes and end its “anti-Israel bias”, warning its credibility was at risk. But in a speech in Geneva, she said “the United States is looking carefully at this council, and our participation in it. Writing in the Post, she asked “whether the Human Rights Council actually supports human rights or is merely a showcase for dictatorships that use their membership to whitewash brutality.”She argued that a system allowing regional blocs to nominate members which were then rubber-stamped by the General Assembly had turned the council into “a haven for dictators”. Israel is the only country with a dedicated rights council agenda item—known as Item 7. The head of Human Rights Watch’s Geneva office, John Fisher, agreed with Haley that a reformed membership process would make the body stronger.

Source: Manila Times June 06, 2017 12:33 UTC