Pompeo announces new human rights commission with zero hint of irony

The secretary of state said the panel will examine "the role of human rights in American foreign policy."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday announced the launch of a Commission on Unalienable Rights, made up of a panel of advisers who will advance “one of the most profound reexaminations of the unalienable rights in the world” at a time when, he said, “gross violations continue throughout the world, sometimes even in the name of human rights.”

The announcement came just hours after the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet released a statement criticizing U.S. migrant detention centers for “alarming” and “undignified conditions” that infringe on detainee rights.

Pompeo did not divulge specifics about the commission, which will be led by Harvard Law professor Mary Ann Glendon, the former ambassador to the Vatican during the George W. Bush administration and a prominent anti-abortion advocate.

According to CBS News, which spoke with a senior State Department official, the panel will operate like a “‘study group,’ examining the concept of universal human rights, where those rights come from and the difference between inherent rights and those prescribed by governments.”

https://thinkprogress.org/pompeo-hum...-6130f168262d/