"CIEL statement of United States withdrawal from UN Human Rights Council," 19 June 2018

The United States’ withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council undermines the protection of human rights worldwide and sets a dangerous precedent for countries that commit or permit serious human rights abuses. It sends a reckless signal to the world that the United States is further retreating from the international community, turning its back on people living under oppressive regimes, and fleeing international scrutiny for its own mounting acts of repression and abuse. This unwelcome and ill-advised withdrawal from the HRC neither relieves the United States of the international human rights obligations by which it and every nation are bound nor insulates it from accountability for its own failures to respect, protect, promote, and fulfill human rights... [T]he Human Rights Council should take full advantage of the US departure to make real progress in areas where the United States has actively obstructed the advancement of international human rights, including with respect to transnational corporate accountability and the human rights implications of climate change.