A/73/227 backed groups, international organizations and civil society groups to campaign internationally against universality; 28 and (b) the frequent misuse of the concept of “religious freedom” in ways that contravene important standards governing freedom of religion or belief, to advocate against equality and uni versality. 29 Meanwhile, the withdrawal by the United States of America from the Human Rights Council, justified officially with criticisms of the Council, but publicly explained by a prominent official as a rejection of international human rights scrutiny, 30 is another shameful example. All of these steps backwards undermine human rights and should be condemned. Moreover, weakening or defunding the institutions designed to guarantee the implementation of human rights norms is likewise incompatible with a commitment to universality. 31 40. There are many forms of relativism that undermine human rights culture and meaningful universality. These include cultural relativism, which is addressed in detail below. They also include the refusal to recognize entire categ ories of rights, such as economic, social and cultural rights, as human rights. Such an approach results in a selective universality, which is not acceptable either. Tolerance of widespread extreme poverty or diminished access to health care in the name of markets is as deeply undermining of universality as is the attempt to justify discrimination in the name of culture. 41. Blanket refusals to recognize the justiciability of human rights obligations or attempts to make domestic law superior to internationa l human rights law, while failing to implement international human rights obligations, likewise result in relativism in practice. Other forms of relativism may be found in anti -immigrant rhetoric, which suggests incorrectly that all human rights stop at bo rders or are only to be afforded to citizens, and in the misuse of the concept of national sovereignty to avoid legitimate human rights scrutiny. 42. A robust universality must include civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, must include the rights of all people and must envisage and enable their full implementation. __________________ 28 29 30 31 18-12312 For example, the Special Rapporteur deeply regrets that the following language is used on the website of Human Rights High Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran: “It must be noted that human rights texts, drafted in the West, are imposed on other peoples through various means. This all-out attack … goes so far as to deny other peoples of the world their individual and social freedoms, whereas the proud peoples of the world, relying on their native and regional values, and relying on cultural diversity, combat this Western mechanism ”. According to the website, this official body campaigns “aggressively” at the international level against the worldview it ascribes to universal norms (unofficial translation for the Special Rapporteur). See, for example, A/HRC/34/50, paras. 44–50, and A/HRC/38/46. For the official statement, see Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, United States of America, and Nikki Haley, United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, remarks on the United Nations Human Rights Council, Washington, D.C., 19 June 2018. In a radio interview that same day on a programme with some 7 million listeners, the National Security Adviser of the United States, John Bolton, explained the decision of the United States as follows: “Fundamentally … this is a rejection of the notion that multilateral organizations are in a position to judge representative Governments like the US, or to try and impose t heir view of what an adequate human rights performance is”. See The Mark Levin Show, Audio Rewind, 19 June 2018. See, for example, Coordination Committee of Special Procedures and Chairpersons of Human Rights Treaty Bodies, “We cannot let it go bankrupt”, statement on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights financial crisis, Geneva, 3 June 2016. 13/26