While you would think participating in such a council would be of great interest to the United States, and it is, the problem is that many of the world's worst violators of human rights sit on the council - and they vote to avoid criticism of their own policies.
So rather than exposing human rights violations in the world, the council acts as a protector of the worst abusers.
How can this be? Seats on United Nations organizations are allocated to various regions (such as the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, etc). So if China wants to get on this council to protect itself from criticism, and it does, it lobbies other Asian nations to vote for it - and will offer those nations benefits (money, trade, securing favorable UN vote) important to them. And since many countries of the world don't care about human rights as much as they care about the benefits offered by those seeking a seat on this council, they let them get their way.
And we get a human rights council populated with many of the world's thuggish regimes, such as Russia, China, and Cuba. About the only country they decide to criticize is Israel.
It is for this reason that the United States left a predecessor UN organization on human rights, and why the Bush administration boycotted the current council.
Such qualms don't stop the Obama administration, who would rather "engage" with other nations even if the price is granting America's good name to a terrible organization.
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