Tag: António Guterres

EXCLUSIVE -- U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley is demanding the U.N. Secretary General take action against the Bolivian and Cuban delegations after they disrupted a U.S. event to draw attention to the plight of political prisoners in Cuba -- damaging U.N. property in the process. In a letter to Secretary General Antonio Guterres, sent Friday and obtained by Fox News, Haley said the behavior by the Cuban and Bolivian diplomats was “outrageous” and called for action from Guterres. “Due to the outrageous behavior of the Cuban and Bolivian U.N. delegations, this diplomatic event became a mob scene, and resulted in significant damage to U.N. property,” the letter says. “I respectfully call on you to condemn this extremely unprofessional conduct and require the Cuban and Bolivian delegations to pay for the property damage they caused.” Haley said that the U.N. initially said the U.S would be contacted to pay for the damage to desks and earphones, but U.N. officials eventually said that the U.N. itself would bear the cost. He said the U.S. had done so with regards to Tuesday's event. Haley welcomed the Cuban call for an investigation and said that the the U.N. should also investigate the damage and the misconduct by the Cuban and Bolivian delegations -- include removing access to the U.N. for those responsible. Dujarric told Fox News that the Secretary General’s office had received the letter and was looking into it. The event on Tuesday still went ahead, with speakers yelling over the protesters, but the U.S. said the event was delayed after the Cuban delegation refused to allow security to conduct a sweep of the chamber. U.S. ECOSOC Ambassador Kelley Currie, who led the event and herself had to yell over protesters to be heard, told reporters after the event.

Washington (CNN)US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday, accusing the body of bias against US ally Israel and a failure to hold human rights abusers accountable. The move, which the Trump administration has threatened for months, came down one day after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border as "unconscionable." "Human rights abusers continue to serve on, and be elected to, the council," said Haley, listing US grievances with the body. "The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape its scrutiny, and the council continues politicizing scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in its ranks." Membership on the council gives countries like the United States a voice in important debates over human rights atrocities, but the council's critics, including Haley, say abusers use their membership to guarantee their own impunity. The move was immediately condemned by a dozen charitable groups, who wrote to Pompeo to say they were "deeply disappointed with the Administration's decision to withdraw the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council, the premier intergovernmental human rights body at the global level." "This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world," they added. US withdrawal from the council follows efforts by Haley and the US delegation to implement reforms, including more stringent membership criteria and the ability to remove members with egregious human rights records. "When a so-called Human Rights Council cannot bring itself to address the massive abuses in Venezuela and Iran, and it welcomes the Democratic Republic of Congo as a new member, the council ceases to be worthy of its name," said Haley. Haley said the United States will continue to promote human rights outside of the council and would consider rejoining it in the future if reforms are made.