Last week, President Trump announced his nomination of Kelly Knight Craft as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, replacing Nikki Haley who resigned at the end of 2018. In light of this nomination, Preston Mitchum, Advocates for Youth’s Senior Legal and International Policy Analyst, makes the following statement:

“The Trump-Pence administration will stop at nothing to attack the health and rights of LGBTQ people, immigrants, and young people across the world. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations serves as the permanent representative of the United States and represents U.S. foreign policy interests on the global stage. Both before and after Haley’s resignation, the U.S. government has doubled-down on their attacks against marginalized communities.

“Craft has very limited U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic experience other than her role as the current U.S. ambassador to Canada. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Craft will immediately step into a role where the U.S. is already isolated on many issues, including health and rights, gender, environment, and migration, among others. Just recently, the U.S. was the main force behind the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2467 which removed reference to sexual and reproductive health and rights from a resolution designed to aid survivors of sexual assault in conflict settings.

“In the coming weeks, Advocates for Youth and our youth activists will be closely following the confirmation hearings to see if Craft will advocate for the health and rights of young people around the world, or simply act as a mouthpiece for an Administration that has decided to continuously turn its back on the needs of the most marginalized.”