What has Trump done now? Five things you need to know about United States quitting UN Human Rights Council

With criticism mounting on the administration over alleged human rights abuses on its own borders, the U.S. quits the global body that protects these rights

Donald Trump’s administration says the UN Human Rights Council is biased against Israel (Niall Carson/PA)

Lesley Wroughton and Michelle Nichols

U.S. president Donald Trump has shocked critics by pulling out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, but why and what does it mean?

It meets three times a year to examine human rights violations worldwide. It has mandated independent investigators to look at situations including Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan.