VOA标准英语--美国退出联合国人权理事会

U.S. Withdraws from Human Rights Council

For the last year, the United States has been working to reform the United Nations Human Rights Council into a serious advocate for human rights.

“Regrettably,” said U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley, “the U.S. call for reform was not heeded”:

“Human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council and the world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny¹, and the council continues politicizing and scapegoating² of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks.”

For these reasons the United States has officially withdrawn³ from the UN Human Rights Council.

One of the United States' central goals was to prevent the world's worst human rights abusers from gaining Human Rights Council membership. What happened? The Democratic Republic of Congo - known to have one of the worst human rights records in the world - was elected to the council.

The Council also failed to respond in December and January when the Iranian regime killed numerous demonstrators and arrested hundreds more simply for expressing their views.

And then there is the matter of the chronic⁴ bias⁵ against Israel, noted⁶ Ambassador Haley. Last year, the United States made clear that it would not accept the continued existence of agenda item seven, which singles out Israel in a way that no other country is singled out. Earlier this year, “the Human Rights Council passed five resolutions against Israel – more than the number passed against North Korea, Iran, and Syria combined,” said Ambassador Haley.

America will continue its proud legacy⁷ as a champion of human rights, as the world's largest provider of humanitarian⁸ aid, and as a liberator⁹ of oppressed people. “While we do not seek to impose the American system on anyone else,” said Ambassador Haley, “we do support the rights of all people to have freedoms bestowed¹⁰ on them by their creator. That is why we are withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, an organization that is not worthy¹¹ of its name.”

1 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

2 scapegoating   

v.使成为替罪羊( scapegoat的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Washington's scapegoating of China could take the world to the brink of a very slippery slope. 华盛顿方面找中国作替罪羊，可能会把世界推向灾难性下滑的边缘。 来自互联网

3 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

4 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 liberator   

解放者

参考例句：

• The best integrated turf quality was recorded in Ram I、Midnight、America、Connie、Liberator, which could be adopted in Shanxi. RamI、Midnight、America、Connie、Liberator综合质量表现均衡且分值较高，是山西省推广应用的重点品种。
• It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old. 这是一部新世界的发展史，是一部后浪推前浪的历史。

10 bestowed   

赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was a title bestowed upon him by the king. 那是国王赐给他的头衔。
• He considered himself unworthy of the honour they had bestowed on him. 他认为自己不配得到大家赋予他的荣誉。

11 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。