Geneva — The United States on Tuesday is set to become the first country to completely avoid a regular review of its human rights record at the U.N.’s top human rights body since its creation two decades ago.
Last year, the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Human Rights Council, accusing it of having an anti-American and anti-Israeli bias, and alleging that it did not respect the very values it promotes.
Supporters support the Council’s mandate to monitor human rights in all U.N. member states, including the United States, which has drawn criticism for its policies, including brutal deportations And targeted killings of suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific – which the administration says are designed to protect American workers and help keep the country secure.
The Geneva-based council regularly reviews the rights situation of all 193 U.N. member states – usually about every four to five years – in a process known as the universal periodic review.
The United States, under President Trump, had already missed its review appointment a year ago. The review scheduled for November 2025 was pushed back to Tuesday in hopes the U.S. government might change its mind.
This is not the case.
“(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 by consistently failing to uphold its own ‘values’ while pushing anti-American rhetoric,” the spokesperson said, alleging that the council has “a persistent failure to convict the most egregious violators of human rights.”
The council says the process requires the participation of the country in question and that in the absence of national representatives, the review cannot take place.
Lian Yi/Xinhua via Getty Images 
As part of these reviews, national delegations – which can sometimes include a dozen or more officials – make a presentation, answer questions and hear recommendations from other national envoys. It is a broad and constructive process, which acts as a mirror held up to governments to improve their human rights policies.
Critics of the U.S. decision warn that the withdrawal could encourage other countries – many of which bristle at the scrutiny from human rights observers – to follow suit.
Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s human rights program, said: “The administration is telling the world, ‘we don’t care whether you scrutinize us or not, we’re going to continue to shamelessly violate human rights.’
“And we say, ‘No, enough is enough. This council should hold the United States accountable,'” he told reporters in Geneva on Monday, part of a campaign by some groups to raise awareness of the United States’ human rights record.
He said the ACLU and its allies have called on the U.N. human rights chief to respond with an update on U.S. rights early next year.
Eric Tistounet, visiting professor at the Geneva Institute of Advanced Studies and first secretary of the Council, said the US withdrawal could affect the credibility of the Council’s review system.
“If the predominant world power – which has always claimed to adhere to human rights standards – doesn’t come forward and doesn’t even justify why, then you’re in big trouble,” he said.
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