US will rejoin UN Human Rights Council: report

The U.S. plans to rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council after former President Trump left the organization in 2018, The Associated Press reported Sunday. 

U.S. officials familiar with the decision told the AP that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a senior U.S. diplomat in Geneva will announce the country’s decision to rejoin the council as a nonvoting member for this year, with the goal of becoming a full member next year. 

The White House declined to comment on the matter, and the State Department did not immediately return a request for comment. 

The announcement would represent the latest move by the Biden administration to reverse Trump’s isolationist agenda, in which he removed the U.S. from a number of international groups. 

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the U.N. Human Rights Council almost three years ago, saying it focused too much on Israel, included too many countries accused of human rights abuses and did not make the U.S.’s requested reforms and changes. The council has issued the most critical council resolutions against Israel. 

A senior U.S. official told the AP the Biden administration still wanted the council to reform but said it would advocate for change and “engage with it in a principled fashion.” The official said the organization can be “an important forum for those fighting tyranny and injustice around the world,” noting that U.S. involvement would “ensure it can live up to that potential.”

Officials also told the AP that the U.S. will press for one of the three full member seats, which Austria, Denmark and Italy now have. 

Trump distanced the U.S. from international affairs by leaving the Paris climate agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO and several other organizations. Biden has since brought the U.S. back to the Paris agreement and WHO.

Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under Trump, who called for the council to reform, said last month if Biden returned the U.S. to the council “it will fly in the face of our fight for human rights.”