United States Returns to UN Human Rights Council: Biden Political Statement

The new American administration continues its program of interruption with respect to the policy of its predecessor, with the aim of bringing the United States back into the global dialectic of international relations, with a central role. Abandoning the isolation that Trump imposed on his own nation has become the first and most urgent goal for the new president’s diplomatic policy. This is the context in which Washington’s return to the UN Human Rights Committee, which had been abandoned because it was accused of a persecutory policy against Israel, is placed; in reality, although this motivation was at the basis of the decision, the perception was that the administration of the White House at the time, had also taken the opportunity not to enter into conflict with states to which it had approached and which practiced the violation of human rights in an ever more blatant way. According to the new US president, the importance of the committee’s action is to be a preferential channel for ascertaining the violation of human rights wherever they occur on the globe. In this regard, the US Secretary of State stated that the lack of American leadership within the committee has created a power vacuum, which has been beneficial to authoritarian countries. For the new American president it is essential that the United States makes the defense of democracy, human rights and equality stand out as central to its international activity and the activity of multilateral bodies, such as the United Nations responsible body, will be fundamental. to this end, also for the common action with the American allies. In these intentions there is a clear program that should relaunch close collaboration with traditional allies, especially those in Europe, but not only, which have been neglected and moved away from an isolationist and short-sighted policy, such as Trump’s. The recovery of the value of the alliance with Europe appears central, especially at an emotional and ideal level, on the relaunching of the centrality of the themes of democracy and respect for rights at a global level is a priority both from a political and from a political point of view. programmatic, because it also constitutes a link of a higher caliber to be contrasted with the proximity that has been created between the old continent with China, and in part, also with Russia, determined precisely as a reaction to the removal desired by Trump. Having the support of the European Union and the British on these issues represents a sort of return of the Atlantic bloc to counteract Chinese expansionism and Russian activism, which are the most immediate emergencies to deal with. The novelty of recognizing the importance of a body such as the United Nations Human Rights Council is not unexpected, but it still represents a strong signal that the new American president wanted to give along with the very clear statements about the absolute lack of sentiments Democrats of the Chinese leader, the protests for the attitude of Moscow that has suppressed the demonstrations against President Putin and the withdrawal of military support to Saudi Arabia in the war against the Yemeni rebels. It is obviously a political program, which will concern the political, military and economic relations, which the Americans intend to undertake with the illiberal states and their international strategies: a completely different approach from the previous one, of which, however, it will have to retain some purposes, such as the relationship with Beijing. Biden has assured that he does not want any kind of conflict with China, but a relaxation of the already difficult relations left by Trump appears impossible, precisely because of the basic approach that the new American foreign policy has adopted. If the discrimination of respect for human rights becomes fundamental, a serene relationship with China will be impossible, so the repercussions on the respective geopolitical interests will become inevitable, such as the protection of the Pacific sea routes, the protection of states threatened by Beijing and trade between the two sides, all potential reasons that could lead to a cold war state. Faced with this potential danger, it will be important to evaluate the response of the allies, especially the European ones, who have greater political weight: an opportunity for the European Union to effectively be the representative of respect for rights and to play this role with greater courage, especially in the face of the most serious violations, taking strong diplomatic initiatives, including through severe economic sanctions, knowing that from now on American support will not be lacking, if only for mutual interests.