US President Donald Trump's administration is reviewing its participation in the UN Human Rights Council, seeking reform of its agenda and an end to its "obsession with Israel", a senior US official said on Wednesday. Washington has long argued that the Geneva forum unfairly focuses on Israel's alleged violations of human rights, including war crimes against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The United States "remains deeply troubled by the Council’s consistent unfair and unbalanced focus on one democratic country, Israel", Erin Barclay, US deputy assistant secretary of state, told the UN Human Rights Council. "As we consider our future engagements, my government will be considering the Council's actions with an eye toward reform to more fully achieve the Council's mission to protect and promote human rights." The United States is currently an elected member of the 47-state Geneva forum where its three-year term ends in 2019.

Source: Egypt Independent March 01, 2017 10:18 UTC