President Trump scolded the United Nations on Tuesday for giving notorious human rights abusers a seat on its human rights council, describing the situation as a source of “embarrassment” for the decades-old institution.
In his address to the U.N. General Assembly, Trump told 193 partner countries “it is a massive source of embarrassment to the U.N. that some governments with egregious human rights records sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council.”
The Trump administration threatened earlier this summer to pull out of the UNHRC after accusing the council of shielding repressive regimes that have joined the body and leveling unwarranted attacks on Israel.
“Being a member of this country is a privilege, and no country who is a human rights violator should be allowed a seat at the table,” Trump’s U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, said at a meeting in Geneva in June.
At the time, Haley told council members the United State was “looking very carefully at [the UNHRC] and our participation in it.” She specifically called out leaders from Cuba, Venezuela, Burundi, China, and Saudi Arabia for failing to “uphold the highest standards of human rights” in their countries.
Forty-seven countries currently sit on the UNHRC, including the United States, which contributes the most to the U.N. budget with a share of 22 percent.
