UNASUR Summit by Cancillería del Ecuador, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0/Original

No, this is not some kind of parody article.

Several UN watchdogs are reporting that Venezuela is almost certain to be elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council. That’d be the same Venezuela that has death squads and has carried out thousands of extra-judicial killings.

Venezuela dictator Nicolás Maduro destroyed his country, starved his people, and crushed pro-democracy dissidents. So the U.N. is planning next month to elect him to its "Human Rights Council." pic.twitter.com/7G70uAQVp9 — Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 5, 2019

You may be wondering how this is possible. It comes down to the fact that there are two spots open for countries from Latin America and Venezuela is one of only two countries running. Instead of abstaining or using some other means to deny them the seat, it’s apparently all but certain the current members will give them the 2/3 vote they need. This isn’t exactly surprising given the myriad of dictatorships and dumpster fire nations that currently inhabit the Human Rights Council.

Here’s more details via the Miami Herald.

And yet, according to YourHRC, UNWatch and other human-rights groups, Venezuela — alongside Brazil — is almost sure to win one of Latin America’s two vacant seats at the Human Right Council at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly session. The General Assembly elected the 47 members of the Human Rights Council. Candidates need two-thirds of the General Assembly’s votes, or 126 votes, to be elected. “Right now, Venezuela’s election is almost certain to happen because there are only two seats available for Latin America at the Council — and only two countries are running,” UNWatch director Hillel Neuer told me.

The article’s writer takes some shots at President Trump, claiming that we could do something about this had we not left the Human Rights Council previously over their corruption. That’s nonsense.

Unfortunately, Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Council and several other multilateral forums such as the Paris Climate Accord — as well as Trump’s verbal attacks on America’s European allies and his downsizing of the State Department — have severely eroded America’s clout in the diplomatic community around the world. As a result, America has less influence than ever in recent times to sway African, Asian and European countries to stop Venezuela’s election to the Council.

This is not President Trump’s fault. This is the UN’s fault as an organization. We did the right thing leaving that council in protest. To remain on it would have only provided it legitimacy it absolutely does not deserve. Our clout was already nearly non-existent anyway. The UN Human Rights Council is a garbage dump of tyrannical dictatorships. The fact that a large majority of their members are poised to offer positive support to Maduro only confirms that further.

It’s time for the United States to leave the United Nations altogether. We have no reason left to be there and we have no moral obligation to keep shoveling money into their coffers.

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