Only a few weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, Republicans have renewed their vigor to break with the United Nations and America’s human rights commitments. The first working day of 2017 saw the re-introduction of the American Sovereignty Restoration Act to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. It proposes, as if it were so simple, for the US to withdraw from the UN, among other multilateral bodies, to “repeal” participation in all agreements with the UN, and to cease all payments to the UN, for peacekeeping missions and otherwise.
The renewed push to break with the UN follows closely from a Security Council resolution which condemns Israel for its settlements in Palestinian territory.
Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama has proposed this gem before. Much of the criticism of the UN from Rogers’ camp stems from the perceived infringement of American sovereignty posed by environmental agreements, arm trade treaties, and—bizarrely for a party now so closely aligned with the neo-Nazi movement—anti-Israel bias. The renewed push to break with the UN follows closely from a Security Council resolution which condemns Israel for its settlements in Palestinian territory. Rogers is joined in this criticism by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has called the UN a “forum for anti-Semitism”, and Senator Ted Cruz, who has urged US funding of the UN to be ceased until the resolution is withdrawn.
