Blinken: US to run for UNHRC seat, abolish anti-Israel bias

"We urge the Human Rights Council to look at how it conducts its business. That includes its disproportionate focus on Israel."

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives for a welcome ceremony at the State Department in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2021. (photo credit: CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS)
Newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives for a welcome ceremony at the State Department in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2021.
(photo credit: CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS)
The United States plans to run for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, as he decried the 47-member body’s bias against Israel and called for its Agenda Item 7 to be abolished.
“I’m pleased to announce the United States will seek election to the Human Rights Council for the 2022-24 term,” Blinken said as he spoke at the virtual high-level meeting of the 46th session, which opened Monday and ends on March 23.
Former US president Donald Trump exited the UNHRC in 2018, abandoning the US seat, to protest the council’s bias against Israel, which is the subject of more resolutions than any other country.
US President Joe Biden rejoined the council, but as a participant and not a voting member. The US can regain its seat only through elections held annually by the UN General Assembly in New York.
“We humbly ask for the support of all UN member states in our bid to return to a seat in this body,” Blinken said.
He lauded the UNHRC for its important work in highlighting global human rights abuses, but chastised it for its treatment of Israel.
“We urge the Human Rights Council to look at how it conducts its business. That includes its disproportionate focus on Israel,” Blinken said.
“We need to eliminate Agenda Item 7 and treat the human rights situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories the same way as this body handles any other country,” he said.
Since the UNHRC’s inception, the US has pushed to eliminate a council mandate to debate alleged Israeli human rights abuses against the Palestinians at every session under agenda Item 7.
Such alleged abuses against all other countries are debated under Agenda Item 4. There is no other country for which there is a standing agenda item.
When he addressed the UNHRC on Monday, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki said that Agenda Item 7 is an important mechanism by which the Palestinians protect themselves against Israeli abuses.
He urged the UNHRC to ensure that it is part of the agenda of each session until such time as Israel withdraws to the pre-1967 lines and the “occupation” comes to an end.
“Those who call for the removal of this item are fighting against human rights, they are allowing Israel to continue to commit the crimes it has committed for the past 54 years. This strengthens Israel’s position as a state above the rule of law,” Malki said.
“Agenda Item 7 is vital. If we remove it, it’s an attempt to remove the rights of the Palestinian people. It is an attempt to remove the scrutiny of international human rights bodies. We see no end to the crimes of the occupying power, and those members that side with the occupying power are accomplices,” Malki said.
Ambassador to the UNHRC Meirav Shahar called on UN member states to protest Agenda Item 7 by refusing to participate in the debate. Israel already boycotts the Agenda Item 7 meeting, and most European and Western countries also refuse to participate.
“The institutional bias reflected in Item 7 is an ongoing testimony of this council’s partiality and politicization against Israel. I call on all states to refrain from participating in the Item 7 discussion and mechanisms. I also call on all member states to vote against all resolutions against my country presented in this session,” Shahar said.
“Despite the biases and discrimination, Israel will continue to work with the council on issues that urgently need the world’s attention,” Shahar said.
At this session, the UNHRC is expected to approve at least five pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel resolutions. Four of them are tabled under Agenda Item 7. No other country is the subject of so many resolutions.
Only the UNHRC’s 47 members can vote on the resolutions. The US and Israel are not members of the council, and cannot vote against the resolutions.
ON WEDNESDAY at the UNHRC, Blinken spoke more broadly about the US position on human rights and the importance of the council to the global battles to uphold those rights.
Blinken told the UNHRC that his country was placing “democracy and human rights at the center of our foreign policy, because they are essential for peace and stability.”
Among the problematic human rights situations he believes the UNHRC should address, he highlighted problems in Myanmar, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, China, Sri Lanka, Syria, North Korea, South Sudan, Russia and Iran.
“We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Alexei Navalny, as well as hundreds of other Russian citizens wrongfully detained for exercising their rights,” Blinken said.
To ensure that the UNHRC upholds a high standard for human rights, it is important to ensure that countries with the “worst human rights records” should not be part of the council, Blinken continued.
The UNHRC must address global problems of racism, homophobia and gender inequity, as well as discrimination against people with disabilities, he said.


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