Trump withdraws US from UN Human Rights Council

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to withdraw the US from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The order is also slashing future funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Funding was suspended in 2024 under the Biden administration.

Last October, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed two laws that called for ending UNRWA’s operations in its territory and prohibiting Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency.

In his first term as president, Trump pulled the US out of the rights body, which Republican lawmakers criticized for alleged bias against Israel.

The signing occurred on the day Trump is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

After the signing, Trump said: "I've always felt that the UN has tremendous potential. It's not living up to that potential right now. It really isn't.”

He said the world body is not being well run and not doing the job.

According to a White House fact sheet circulated by Politico, the rights council “has not fulfilled its purpose and continues to be used as a protective body for countries committing horrific human rights violations.”

The UNHRC has demonstrated consistent bias against Israel, focusing on it unfairly and disproportionately in council proceedings," said the document.

"In 2018, the year President Trump withdrew from the UNHRC in his first administration, the organization passed more resolutions condemning Israel than Syria, Iran, and North Korea combined," it said.