Why has the US quit the UN human rights council?

The United States has withdrawn from the United Nations Human
Rights Council, citing ongoing political bias and an unwillingness
for reform.

“For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of
human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias.
Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not
heeded,” US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said.

Why did the US quit?

Haley cited the granting of membership to the council for the
Democratic Republic of Congo in the past year, and a lack of action
by the council “massive abuses” in Venezuela and Iran as further
reasons the US has left.

The council has been “criticised for allowing countries with
questionable human rights records to be members”, the BBC says.

The Guardian says the US is also unhappy about
the existence of the permanent “agenda item 7”, which is
“exclusively devoted to the discussion of rights violations in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip”.

What was the reaction to the move?

UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein,
criticised the Trump administration’s decision on Twitter.

“Given the state of human rights in today’s world, the US should
be stepping up, not stepping back,” he wrote.

A number of charities criticised the move, with the
American Civil Liberties Union saying the Trump administration was
mounting a “concerted, aggressive effort to violate basic human
rights”.