The United Nations Human rights council in session. Photo: wiki commons.

The United States’ office in Geneva, at the United Nations Human Rights Council, reiterated its standing on Monday that the UNHRC is biased and disproportionately focuses on Israel.

“The human rights record of all states must be addressed under a robust common rubric,” reads a statement from the office of Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, the U.S. permanent representative in Geneva.  “As such, the United States continues to be deeply troubled by this Council’s biased and disproportionate focus on Israel, as exemplified by this standing agenda item.”

The agenda item in question is known as Item 7, or the “Human Rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories”.  The U.S. is asking that the item be removed from debate in Geneva.

“We urge this Council to take a balanced, objective and constructive approach to the human rights situation in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.  It is our sincere hope that this Council will eliminate this agenda item, as we have called for in the past.”

Earlier this year, in March, Donahoe’s office released a similar statement, noting that Item 7 – which is often used to accuse Israel of human rights abuses in academic discussions and in the international media – is “unfair” in Washington’s opinion.

“This standing agenda item is yet another reminder of the unfair treatment that one UN member state receives in this Council.”