U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Rights Groups on Wednesday and contributed to the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from UN body.

Haley slammed rights group for thwarting Washington’s attempts to reform the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council.

Haley delivered remarks to the press together with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (not pictured) and announced the U.S.’s withdrawal from the UN’s Human Rights Council at the Department of State in Washington.

In a letter to at least 17 rights and aid groups, seen by Reuters, Haley berated them for urging countries not to support a U.S.-drafted General Assembly resolution titled “Improving the Effectiveness of the Human Rights Council.’’

“It is unfortunate that your letter sought to undermine our attempts to improve the Human Rights Council. You put yourself on the side of Russia and China, and opposite the United States, on a key human rights issue,’’ Haley wrote.

“You should know that your efforts to block negotiations and thwart reform were a contributing factor in the U.S. decision to withdraw from the council,’’ she said in the letter that was received by groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The United States withdrew on Tuesday from what Haley dubbed a “hypocritical and self-serving’’ Human Rights Council over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform.

The United States was half-way through a three-year term on the Geneva-based 47-member body.

Human Rights Watch U.N. director Louis Charbonneau said the U.S. draft General Assembly resolution “could have backfired badly and the process could have been hijacked’’ by the countries seeking to undermine the Human Rights Council.

“This suggestion that somehow it’s the human rights groups that are undermining the U.S. attempts to improve the Human Rights Council is preposterous.

“The idea that we human rights groups are aligned with Russia and China – countries that we criticise all the time – is absurd,” said Charbonneau.

China, Britain and the European Union lamented on Wednesday Washington’s decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council as Western countries began looking for a substitute for the coveted seat.

Russia’s mission to the U.N. in New York posted on Twitter on Tuesday: “U.S. attempts to blame the whole world for the politicisation of HRC work is especially cynical. The response of international community was clear – U.S. found itself isolated in this issue.”

Washington’s withdrawal is the latest U.S. rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The United States has also quit the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO over accusations of anti-Israel bias. (Reuters/NAN)

– Jun. 20, 2018 @ 18:12 GMT |