US Vice President Mike Pence
US Vice President Mike PenceReuters

US Vice President Mike Pence excoriated the UN's Human Rights Council on Wednesday, calling it an organization that "doesn't deserve its name," outspokenly highlighting the difference between its stated aims and its operations. He called out the member countries who repress freedom and repeatedly violate human rights, saying:

“The United Nations is bound by its charter to foster ‘International cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all.’ That was the purpose under which the U.N. Human Rights Council was formed. But the truth is, the Human Rights Council doesn’t deserve its name.

"Today, the United Nations Human Rights Council actually attracts and welcomes many of the worst human rights violators in the world. A clear majority of the Human Rights Council’s members fail to meet even the most basic human rights standards.

"Cuba sits on the Human Rights Council, an oppressive regime that has repressed its people and jailed political opponents for more than half a century. Venezuela sits on the Human Rights Council, a dictatorship that undermines democracy at every turn, imprisons political opponents, and as we speak is advancing policies that worsen deprivation and poverty that’s costing the lives of innocent men, women, and children."

The 47 member group has made it a point to target Israel and has a fixed spot on its agenda for aiming criticism for alleged human rights violations at the only democracy in the Middle East. Nikki Haley, the US representative at the UN, wrote several months ago in the Washington Post that: "When the council passes more than 70 resolutions against Israel, a country with a strong human rights record, and just seven resolutions against Iran, a country with an abysmal human rights record, you know something is seriously wrong.”

Pence berated the group for its anti-Semitism as well, describing Israel as a "cherished ally":

"As to its operation, I think of what President John F. Kennedy warned more than 50 years ago, that the United Nations must not become in his words a ‘forum for invective.’

“Unfortunately, today, the Human Rights Council has become exactly that, and particularly the Human Rights Council has become a forum for anti-Semitism and invective against Israel. The council’s agenda item seven actually singles out Israel for discussion at every single meeting, something no other country must endure. As evidence, the Human Rights Council has passed more than 70 resolutions condemning Israel, while largely ignoring the world’s worst human rights abusers.

"It is, as President Trump said yesterday, “a massive source of embarrassment.” And we call on the Security Council and this entire body to immediately embrace reforms of the membership and practices of the Human Rights Council and end the Human Rights Council’s blatant bias against our cherished ally Israel.”