The US to become first nation to fully shun a UN Human Rights Council
review
[November 10, 2026]
By JAMEY KEATEN
GENEVA (AP) — The United States is set Tuesday to become the first
country to fully shun a regular review of its human rights record at the
U.N.'s top rights body since it was created two decades ago.
The Trump administration last year pulled the U.S. out of the Human
Rights Council, accusing it of an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel bias, and
alleging that it didn't uphold the very values it promotes.
Supporters back the council's mandate to keep tabs on human rights in
all U.N. member states including the U.S., which has drawn criticism for
its policies including strong-arm deportations and targeted killings of
alleged drug-runners in the Caribbean and Pacific — which the
administration has said are designed to protect U.S. workers and help
keep the country safe.
The Geneva-based council regularly examines the rights records of all
193 U.N. member states — generally about every four to five years — as
part of a process known as the universal periodic review.
The United States, under Trump, already skipped its appointment for its
review a year ago. The scheduled November 2025 review was pushed back
until Tuesday in hopes that the U.S. government might change its mind.
It did not.
“(W)e 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 process requires participation of the country in
question, and in the case of an absence of any national representatives,
the review cannot go forward.
As part of such reviews, national delegations — which at times can
include a dozen officials or more — make a presentation, face questions
and hear recommendations from other national envoys. It's supposed to be
a sweeping and constructive process, akin to holding up a mirror to
governments to improve their human rights policies.
[to top of second column]
|
The empty seat of the U.S. delegation, during the 60th session of
the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United
Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 8, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone
via AP File)
Critics of the U.S. snub warn that the walkout could encourage other
countries — many of which bristle about intense scrutiny from human
rights monitors — to follow suit.
Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's human
rights program, said: “The administration is saying to the world,
‘we don’t care about whether you would review us or not, we’re going
to 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 Monday in Geneva,
as part of a push by civil society to raise awareness about the U.S.
rights record.
He said the ACLU and allies have called on the U.N. human rights
chief to respond by presenting an update on rights in the United
States early next year.
Eric Tistounet, a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate
Institute who was the council's first secretary, said the U.S.
walkout could affect the credibility of the council's 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.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
