The United States cannot stop all the ineptitude and, in some cases, corruption at the U.N. But that does not mean our nation needs to dignify the U.N.’s grossly corrupt, so-called “Human Rights Council” — either by being a member of the council or by handing over to that body information on the United States’ own human rights record.
The Human Rights Council for years has served as a forum that lets nations that disgustingly violate human rights criticize the United States and Israel in particular, though both have far better records of protecting rights than many of the critics have. Member nations have included such abusers as Saudi Arabia and Communist Cuba. Another abuser of human rights, Iran, is currently up for a council seat, if that gives you an indication of how serious the U.N. is about securing human rights.
But the Obama administration is now wrongly dignifying the council by agreeing to hand over to the council a first-ever report on human rights in the United States. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a press conference that the goal is to hold the United States to the “same standard” to which other nations are held.
Upholding human rights in the United States is obviously very important — and our nation does an excellent job of that by comparison with many nations of the world. But whatever our strengths or weaknesses may be, the U.N. Human Rights Council will only use the information we provide to bash the United States and to make itself seem like a legitimate promoter of human rights.
There is no reason we should be giving the U.N. any ammunition to use against us.