Making Daily Headlines · Page 6
US Declines UN Rights Review and Criticizes the Office
· New York time
The United States is becoming the first nation to refuse a United Nations Human Rights Council review. A State Department spokesperson criticized the body, saying it had failed to uphold its own values and pushed anti-American rhetoric. The decision concerns an international process intended to examine countries' human rights records. Refusing to participate challenges the usefulness of the forum while removing an opportunity for the United States to answer questions within it. The administration's criticism puts the council's fairness and performance at the center of its case. The broader policy question is how a country should respond to an institution it regards as flawed, particularly when that institution also provides a venue for scrutiny of governments around the world. Participation and refusal send different signals about the value Washington places on that process. Neither choice resolves every argument about the council or the countries it reviews. International reviews are rarely anyone's favorite appointment. They invite uncomfortable questions and do not come with a guarantee that the questioners have perfect records themselves. Washington's answer is to decline the appointment and criticize the office. That settles the scheduling issue more neatly than it settles the argument about accountability.
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