Why fund the United Nations Human Rights Council?

"Now is the time to re-evaluate United States support for the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Claiming to be a champion of human rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) continues to act in complete contradiction of its mandate to protect human rights and reflects the cronyism and corruption of many of its member governments. The Council devotes far too much time attacking Israel, one of its top agenda items, while ignoring serious and pervasive human rights violations around the world. Worse, the UNHRC routinely attracts as its members many of the world's most notorious human rights abusers and authoritarian regimes, including Venezuela.

Given these circumstances, it is unfathomable why the United States would continue to participate in the Council, and even more disconcerting that we have donated, under former President Obama, $17.5 million to it in 'voluntary' contributions which go above and beyond its direct UN funding. In President Trump's 2018 budget, incredibly enough, there is an additional $10 million for the UNHRC...

United States policy changed in 2009 under President Obama, who sought election of the United States to sit on the UNHRC. In just another of the many failed strategies and defective deals the Obama administration saddled us with, they had hoped United States participation would change the UNHRC from within. Instead, our membership granted some cloak of legitimacy to the body and added impetus to its anti-American and anti-Israel bent and has enabled the UNHRC to continue to protect and defend authoritarian regimes around the world...

Unless the UNHRC undertakes the reforms, the United States should withdraw its membership and its funding, and seek other more legitimate avenues to defend human rights. Tillerson floated the idea of replacing our participation in the UNHRC with our promoting human rights on a multilateral basis, working with like-minded partners. This idea presents a meritorious alternative in the absence of serious reform to legitimize the UNHRC."