The United States is set to become the first country to completely skip a regular review of its human rights record by the UN’s top rights body since the process was established two decades ago.
The Trump administration withdrew the US from the Human Rights Council last year, accusing the Geneva-based body of anti-American and anti-Israel bias and alleging that it failed to uphold the values it promotes.
Supporters of the council say its mandate to scrutinise human rights records applies to all 193 UN member states, including the US. Washington has faced criticism over policies such as forceful deportations and targeted killings of alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific. The administration has defended the measures, saying they are intended to protect American workers and keep the country safe.
The council reviews the human rights records of all UN member states, generally every four to five years, through a process known as the Universal Periodic Review.
Under Trump, the US had already skipped its scheduled review a year ago. The review, originally set for November 2025, was postponed until Tuesday in the hope that the US government might reconsider its decision.
It did not.
“We give no credibility to the agency,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email to The Associated Press.
“This irredeemable body makes a mockery of human rights through consistent failures to uphold its own ‘values’ as it pushes anti-American rhetoric,” the spokesperson said, alleging the council’s “persistent failure to condemn the most egregious human rights violators”.
The council says the review process requires the participation of the country concerned. Without national representatives, the review cannot proceed.
Under the process, national delegations, sometimes comprising a dozen or more officials, present their countries’ records, answer questions and hear recommendations from other governments. The exercise is intended to provide a comprehensive and constructive assessment of human rights policies and encourage governments to make improvements.
Critics of the US decision warn that its absence could encourage other countries, many of which resent scrutiny by human rights monitors, to follow suit.
Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s human rights programme, said the administration was sending a message that it did not care whether its record was reviewed and would continue to violate human rights “unabashed”.
“And we are saying: ‘No, enough is enough. This council should hold the United States accountable’,” he told reporters in Geneva on Monday, as civil society groups sought to draw attention to the US human rights record.
Dakwar said the ACLU and its allies had urged the UN human rights chief to present an update on the human rights situation in the US early next year.
Eric Tistounet, a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute and the council’s first secretary, said the US decision could undermine the credibility of the review system.
“If the predominant global power — which has always claimed to adhere to the human rights norms — doesn’t show up and doesn’t even justify why, then you are in big trouble,” he said.