As America exits, time to make UN human rights council great again
The international community must commit to safeguarding human rights, with or without Trump.
The President of America, Donald Trump, is a man who likes to take decisions. He thus takes them — and others pick up the pieces. On June 19, the US decided to walk out of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), mainly because it feels the international body has been mean to its friend, Israel.
The US, with its money and its military, pulling out of any organisation is a seismic shift. That the biggest financer and upholder of the Western world order pulled out of one of the first world’s pet projects — the upholding of its version of human rights — is potentially cataclysmic.
The allegations the US has made against the UN body are damning — “hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights”, “a protector of human rights abusers”, “a cesspool of political bias”.
What is worse is they are, at least to an extent, true.
In the 12 years of its existence, the UNHRC has not done an exemplary job of carrying out its duties.
Its member states have been prone to human rights abuses, and it has faced accusations of not acting strictly enough against certain countries, such as Saudi Arabia.
So was the Trump administration right in pulling out of the body? Yes — and no.
It is true that the UNHRC is not much of a solution — but the abuse of human rights worldwide is a very real problem, and a growing one. The UN is still the most respected international body whose voice carries moral weight, if not much else, in many parts of the world.
The body has done important work in bringing to the world’s attention human rights abuses in several countries, such as Myanmar, Syria, Sudan and North Korea. The US pulling out of it will put a question mark over the organisation’s legitimacy, and make easier the job of those who question it — Pakistan and Russia are only two examples — because they have secrets to hide.
At a time when populist, supremacist and exclusionary forces are gaining currency worldwide, when borders are being tightened and hearts hardened, when hate and other-ing seem to be flourishing, there is all the more need for international bodies with authority to lay down standards and push countries to meet them.
Here are some facts — over 10 million people in Yemen are at the risk of starvation, because of entirely man-made reasons. In 2017 alone, 910 children died in Syria, more than 50 per cent of the toll reported the previous year. An average of 6,550 people were displaced each day in Syria. As many as 25.4 million people had to flee their countries due to conflict or persecution, even as the better-off countries tightened immigration rules.
All of these are multi-nation problems, where the solution has to come from the international community. In such a milieu, America proclaiming its distrust for an organisation that has so far carried on this task, even if stumblingly, is a kick in the guts not just for the UNHRC, but also for the cause of human rights for all.
Ever since the World War II, America has taken the lead in establishing a rules-based world order, bolstered by treaties and alliances and backed by international bodies. As America increasingly chooses to abandon this role, the vacancy will be best filled by a multi-nation body, instead of one country.
The UNHRC can — and must — make itself great again.
It can start by amending its joining process, where various regions in the world have a certain number of allotted seats, and if that region puts up no more candidates than the number of berths, all contesting countries get elected. This is how Saudi Arabia managed to keep its seat in 2016, while Russia had to leave.
The UNHRC could make its members adhere to what it professes. This should go without saying, but in 2017, nine members of the body — including India — were accused of human rights violations.
The human rights council, so far, has been a joke. But human rights aren’t. The US pulling out can possibly accomplish what was long overdue — a complete overhaul of the UNHRC, and a renewed commitment from the international community to safeguard human rights, with or without Trump.