The UN Human Rights Council has postponed until January 2027 its review of respect for human rights in the United States after Donald Trump’s administration refused to take part in the procedure for the second consecutive time.
The decision was adopted without a vote by the 47-member council because of Washington’s “continued non-participation.” The review is part of the Universal Periodic Review – a procedure under which the human rights situation in each of the UN’s 193 member states is usually examined once every four to five years.
The United States did not send a delegation for the review initially scheduled for November 2025 either. At the time, the council postponed it until November 10, 2026, in the hope that Washington would change its position. According to The Associated Press, the current decision gives the administration more time to join the procedure.
Washington rejects the procedure
The State Department said that participation would amount to supporting the council’s work. “This irredeemable body turns human rights into a laughingstock through its constant failure to uphold its own values and through the promotion of anti-American rhetoric,” the department said in a statement cited by Reuters.
Trump’s administration withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council in 2025, accusing it of anti-American and anti-Israel bias. The refusal to take part in this year’s review is the second consecutive one and, according to Human Rights Watch, puts the US in an unprecedented position in the mechanism’s nearly 20-year history.
What was supposed to be discussed
Among the issues that other countries had planned to raise were abortion and the death penalty. American and international non-governmental organizations submitted nearly 200 statements on issues related to migration, racial discrimination and civil liberties.
“The European Union regrets any situation in which full participation in the mechanism does not take place, including the decision by the United States not to participate in its review once again,” Simone van der Post, a representative of the Netherlands speaking on behalf of EU countries, told the council. “All states are subject to scrutiny by the international community regarding the state of their human rights,” she added.
Human Rights Watch called on the council to ask UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to present information on the situation in the US during the 64th session in March 2027. The organization insists that civil society groups and people affected by human rights violations take part in the discussion.
Sources: apnews.com, investing.com, latimes.com