UNHRC was founded in 2006. Then President George W. Bush was dismissive of the body. Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. joined it in 2009. The 47 members are elected to serve three-year terms on the Council. The U.N. body also focused on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir in a report recently.

“Look at the Council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights,” Ms. Haley, said citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She did not mention Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the Trump administration and a member of the UNHRC accused of human rights violations. The latest confrontation between the U.S. and UNHRC followed the body’s criticism of Israel in the aftermath of the recent killing of protesters in the Gaza Strip.

The U.S. decision also comes against the backdrop of global criticism of the Trump administration’s policy of separating children and parents detained for illegally entering the U.S. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein on Monday asked to halt America’s “unconscionable” policy.