United States President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate chief State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as America’s next envoy to UN has been opposed by rights and advocacy groups, noting that she is “unqualified” and lacks the foreign policy experience crucial for the post, according to a report by PTI.
Trump on Friday picked Nauert to succeed Indian-American Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations.
Among the groups, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, called on the Trump administration to withdraw its nomination, the report stated.
According to the report, CAIR said Nauert promoted “Islamophobic smears” while she was as a Fox News anchor, in 2013, when she criticized special swim classes for a group of Somali-American girls, describing the classes as the “minority becoming the majority at one community pool. Sharia law is now changing everything.”
The group said other than her current position as State Department spokesperson, Nauert has no apparent diplomatic or government experience or expertise, the report stated.
“Heather Nauert does not represent our nation’s diversity or its commitment to treating all Americans with equality and respect,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad, quoted in the report.
Another group, the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), which supports the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls worldwide through advocacy and strengthening women’s movements, said the nomination of Nauert as US ambassador to the United Nations “signals a continuation of the Trump administration’s regressive policies at the UN,” as per the report.
It said Nauert, currently the State Department spokesperson, is a former anchor on Fox News and has no prior diplomatic experience.
“Nauert lacks the foreign policy experience and commitment to human rights and multilateralism crucial for this post,” IWHC Director of Advocacy and Policy Shannon Kowalski said in a statement, as per the report.
IWHC said she “ostracized civil society, removed the US from the Human Rights Council, undermined sexual and reproductive health and rights, and oversaw an overall decline in US leadership at the United Nations. Nauert’s tenure at the State Department does not indicate that she will take the necessary steps to re-engage with civil society and reignite the United States’ commitment to human rights globally, rather than on a politicized basis,” it said, as per the report.
Kowalski added that there is nothing in Nauert’s record to suggest that she would restrain the administration’s efforts to censor language or to undermine and remove UN commitments on gender equality, sexuality education, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, the PTI report stated.
(With inputs from PTI)
