Mike Pompeo says vote on policing and race in US marks a 'new low' for UNHRC

The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on June 20 took to Twitter and said that the United Nations Human Rights Council vote condemning racism amounted to hypocrisy. Pompeo’s statement comes after the council took a vote after a debate prompted by the raging anti-racism protests in the US. While calling it a ‘new low’, the secretary of state said that the US was right to leave the ‘joke’ of a human rights forum. 

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The recent anti-racism protests were triggered by the death of an African American George Floyd by the hands of a police officer. Even with raging demonstrations, the rights group noted that specific mention of racism and police brutality in the US was removed. The UNHRC reportedly accused Washington and its allies of lobbying heavily to revise the text. 

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Pompeo points to ‘racial disparities’ around the globe

While the United States, which had complained of being singled out in the initial text, did not attend the meeting on Friday, Pompeo even defended the country and said that the discussion about race following the death of Floyd is a sign of the country’s democracy’s strength and maturity. While pointing out the ‘racial disparities’ in China, Cuba and Iran, the Secretary of State also said that if the UN agency was ‘serious’ then it should pay attention to the aforementioned countries. 

Furthermore, Pompeo added that if the council were honest, it would recognise the strengths of American democracy and urge authoritarian regimes around the world to model American democracy and to hold nations to same ‘high standards’ of ‘accountability and transparency’ that Americans apply to themselves. 

(Image: AP) 

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