"...For too long, a body intended to impartially promote human rights has instead granted legitimacy and impunity to some of the world's greatest abusers...
The 15 countries elected to the UNHRC [UN Human Rights Council] this past October include a number that are anything but icons in the protection and advancement of fundamental human rights. Among these are China, which both the Trump and Biden administrations determined has committed genocide against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang; Russia, which independent UN experts accused of poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny and Cuba, run by a government that continues to repress the fundamental freedoms of its own citizens. They joined other serial human rights violators already on the 47-member council, most notably Venezuela, whose inclusion speaks volumes about the delta between the council's hyperbole and what it really represents.
The council's secret ballot elections incentivize this obscene status quo, empowering UN General Assembly members to privately vote for candidates without having to publicly justify their support. They feed into an opaque system that has allowed some of the world's most heinous regimes to sanctimoniously assume an undeserved perch at the UNHRC, from which they work to undermine the Council's founding mission.
A favored target of this coterie is Israel, the only country with a dedicated, permanent agenda item at the council. This mechanism ensures that Israel's rights record is examined in a one-sided manner at every council session...
A critical first step... must be for the Biden administration to work to eliminate the UNHRC's secret ballot election system. By casting votes on the record, UN General Assembly members will have to face public accountability for supporting the ascent of notorious human rights abusers to the council. The administration should also push to scrap the council's special agenda item targeting Israel, which is perhaps the most glaring illustration of its selective – if not vindictive – enforcement. There is no valid reason for Israel to be thus singled out. There is, of course, an invalid reason: the council's sub rosa motivation to use its authority to constantly undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel..."