Washington, February 5: President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will withdraw from the top U.N. human rights body and will not resume funding for the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees. The US left the Geneva-based Human Rights Council last year, and it stopped funding the agency assisting Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, after Israel accused it of harboring Hamas militants who participated in the surprise October 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel, which UNRWA denies.

Trump's announcement came on the day he met with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country has long accused both the rights body and UNRWA of bias against Israel and antisemitism. Trump's executive orders also call for a review of American involvement in the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO, and a review of US funding for the United Nations in light of 슬롯사이트œthe wild disparities in levels of funding among different countries.슬롯사이트� Israel-Hamas Conflict: After Meeting With Benjamin Netanyahu at White House, Donald Trump Suggests Displaced Palestinians in Gaza Be 슬롯사이트˜Permanently슬롯사이트� Resettled Outside War-Torn Territory.

The United States, with the world's largest economy, pays 22 per cent of the U.N.'s regular operating budget, with China the second-largest contributor. 슬롯사이트œI've always felt that the U.N. has tremendous potential,슬롯사이트� Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 슬롯사이트œIt's not living up to that potential right now. ... They've got to get their act together.슬롯사이트� He said the U.N. needs 슬롯사이트œto be fair to countries that deserve fairness,슬롯사이트� adding that there are some countries, which he didn't name, that are 슬롯사이트œoutliers, that are very bad and they're being almost preferred.슬롯사이트�

Before Trump's announcement, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric reiterated the Human Rights Council's importance and UNRWA's work in delivering 슬롯사이트œcritical services to Palestinians.슬롯사이트� Trump also pulled the US out of the Human Rights Council in June 2018. His ambassador to the U.N. at the time, Nikki Haley, accused the council of 슬롯사이트œchronic bias against Israel슬롯사이트� and pointed to what she said were human rights abusers among its members.

President Joe Biden renewed support for the Human Rights Council, and the US won a seat on the 47-nation body in October 2021. But the Biden administration announced in late September that the United States would not seek a second consecutive term. Trump's order on Tuesday has little concrete effect because the United States is already not a council member, said council spokesperson Pascal Sim. But like all other U.N. member countries, the US automatically has informal observer status and will still have a seat in the council's ornate round chamber at the U.N. complex in Geneva. Donald Trump슬롯사이트™s Immigration Crackdown: 슬롯사이트˜US Tightening Immigration Laws슬롯사이트�, Says American Embassy Amid Reports of Military Aircraft Bringing Illegal Migrants to India.

Donald Trump Announces US Withdrawal From UN Human Rights Body

UNRWA was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1949 to provide assistance for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel's establishment, as well as for their descendants. It provides aid, education, health care and other services to some 2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Before the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, UNRWA ran schools for Gaza's 650,000 children as well as health facilities, and helped deliver humanitarian aid. It has continued to provide health care and been key to the delivery of food and other aid to Palestinians during the war. The first Trump administration suspended funding to UNRWA in 2018, but Biden restored it. The U.S. had been the biggest donor to the agency, providing it with $343 million in 2022 and $422 million in 2023.

For years, Israel has accused UNRWA of anti-Israeli bias in its education materials, which the agency denies. Israel alleged that 19 of UNRWA's 13,000 staff in Gaza participated in the Hamas attacks. They were terminated pending a U.N. investigation, which found nine may have been involved. In response, 18 governments froze funding to the agency, but all have since restored support except the United States. Legislation ratifying the US decision halted any American funding to UNRWA until March 2025, and Trump's action Tuesday means it will not be restored.

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