The UN Human Rights Council Isn't What It's Cracked Up To Be

I have no doubt President Trump's decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council owes more to its chief Zeid Hussein's criticism that his administration's child separation policy was "unconscionable" rather than its stated reason of anti-Israel bias. On that basis, the Trump Administration could have withdrawn on their first day in office or when they withdrew from UNESCO last October.

But I have no objection to this decision. Let's not pretend the UN Human Rights Council is anything other than a recycled version of the UN Human Rights Commission, a body full of dubious characters such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia who spend the lion's share of their time condemning Israel. Indeed, in its first 10 years of existence more than half of the its resolutions condemned Israel.

If the UN Human Rights Council serves no useful purpose. If it were to disappear tomorrow it would make absolutely no difference to the present state of global human rights.