President Joe Biden has tapped Atlantan Michèle Taylor as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council. She’s the second Georgian to be nominated to serve in a key diplomatic post in recent weeks.
Taylor is a board member of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and has helped lead a range of other humanitarian groups. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor, she also was a member of the Holocaust Memorial Museum Council.
She has deep ties to local Democratic politics. She was the vice chair of the Democratic Party’s finance committee and played leadership roles in former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s 2013 re-election campaign and Michelle Nunn’s unsuccessful 2014 U.S. Senate bid.
Her nomination must be approved by the U.S. Senate, a vote that won’t likely happen for months. If she’s confirmed, she’ll play a key role at a volatile moment. Earlier this month, the U.S. rejoined the Human Rights Council and reversed former President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw over what critics said was a disproportionate focus on alleged abuses by Israel.
She’ll have some local company in the ambassadorial ranks. In September, Biden tapped state Rep. Calvin Smyre, the longest-serving member of the General Assembly, to serve as the ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
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