Trump Signs Order Withdrawing US From UN Bodies
A broader review of US funding for the multilateral organization was established by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday as an executive order removing Washington from a number of UN bodies, including its Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
According to the executive order, Washington was asked to leave UNHRC and join UNRWA as its main UN relief organization, and UNRWA’s involvement was reviewed.
The actions were taken in protest of what UN agencies’ “anti-American bias,” according to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.
The UN Human Rights Council elects its 47 members for three-year terms, with the United States serving until December 31. The body currently has the status of an observer.
Tuesday’s order would appear to end all US participation in the council’s activities, which include reviews of countries ‘ human rights records and specific allegations of rights abuses.
In light of the extreme disparities and funding levels between different nations, the executive order urges a review of American involvement and funding in the UN, according to Scharf.
Trump highlighted the “tremendous potential” of the UN but said it is “not being well run”.
“It should be funded by everybody, but we’re disproportionate, as we always seem to be”, he said.
Trump has long railed against Washington’s levels of funding of multilateral bodies, calling for other countries to increase their contributions, notably at military alliance NATO.
UNRWA is the primary aid source for Palestinians because the majority of the 1.9 million people who have been displaced by the Gaza war depend on UNRWA for food.
After the US ally accused UNRWA of spreading hate material, Washington has supported a decision by Israel to ban the organization under Trump.
After Israel accused 12 of its employees of being involved in Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, the administration of then-president Joe Biden stopped funding UNRWA in January of 2024.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, but found no evidence for Israel’s chief allegations, and most other donors that had similarly suspended funding resumed their financial support.
Trump started resigning from the World Health Organization, where it is the largest donor, earlier in his most recent term, along with the Paris climate agreement.
Each of the withdrawals has been a repeat of the Republican billionaire’s first term in office, which ended in 2021.
Source: Channels TV
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