UN human rights chief says US funding cuts won’t be fatal

29 August 2018, 3:55 pm

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The UN human rights chief says threatened US funding cuts wouldn’t be “fatal” for his office, but says he hopes other countries won’t follow suit.

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein insisted “the office will continue to survive” even if the US carries out the promise made by US National Security Adviser John Bolton in an interview with The Associated Press last week.

Outgoing United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein reacts during an interview with AFP on August 20, 2018, in his office in Geneva. (AFP/ Fabrice COFFRINI)

Zeid told reporters Wednesday that “clearly what one doesn’t want to see is a whole series of withdrawals and withdrawal of funding.”

Bolton’s pledge that the US will cut funding to the rights office, and the UN’s top human rights body was the latest Trump administration salvo against UN institutions.

The US is the UN’s largest single donor, providing about 22 percent of its budget.

— AP