US President Joe Biden seeks to rejoin UN Human Rights Council

The United States will announce this week that it plans to rejoin the UN’s Human Rights Council, reversing one other key coverage of the earlier Trump administration.
The former president pulled out of the Geneva-based physique over what he noticed as its bias in opposition to the Israeli authorities.
Members additionally embrace China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela, all of which have been accused of human rights abuses.
US seeks to regain affect
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will announce on Monday that the United States will return as an observer, with a view to searching for election as a full member.
The Associated Press reported that the Biden administration intends to hunt one in every of three full member seats — at the moment held by Austria, Denmark and Italy — from the “Western Europe and other states group” that will probably be up for grabs later this yr.
“We know that the Council has the potential to be an important forum for those fighting tyranny and injustice around the world,” a US State Department official stated.
“By being present at the table, we seek to reform it and ensure it can live up to that potential,” the official added.
How the UN Human Rights Council works
The 193-member UN General Assembly will elect new members to the council later this yr.
Members are elected for 3 years and can’t serve greater than two consecutive phrases.
Candidates are elected by secret poll in geographical teams to make sure even illustration.
The late Kofi Annan undertook a sequence of main reforms of the United Nations throughout his two phrases as secretary basic. One of the foremost modifications was the creation of the Human Rights Council.
It changed the now defunct UN Human Rights Commission, which had been broadly criticised as politicised and ineffective.
Each candidate was required to show a superb file on human rights. Each elected member can, in idea,be expelled for transgressions.
Biden reverses Trump’s America First insurance policies
Ex-US President Trump’s withdrawalfrom the Human Rights Council fashioned a part of what he known as his ‘America First’ coverage.
He additionally pulled the US out of the Paris local weather accord, the Iran nuclear deal, the World Health Organization and UNESCO, a UN instructional and cultural physique primarily based in France.
Since taking workplace final month, President Joe Biden has rejoined each the Paris accord and the WHO and has signaled curiosity in returning to the Iran deal in addition to UNESCO.