Key facts
- A State Department spokesperson said taking part would imply endorsement of the council's work.
- The spokesperson called the 47-member council an irredeemable body that makes a mockery of human rights.
- A draft UN document and diplomats said the review would likely be postponed until January.
- UN documents show countries had planned to raise abortion and the death penalty at the session.
- US and international NGOs sent nearly 200 UN submissions covering migration to racial discrimination.
- Fourteen countries are due to take part in the review process in Geneva in November 2026.
The United States will not attend a UN Human Rights Council meeting on November 10, 2026 at which its human rights record under President Donald Trump was due to be examined, a State Department spokesperson said. The decision drew criticism from rights groups, who say violations have risen to levels not seen in decades.
Washington disengaged from the Geneva-based council in 2025, citing an anti-Israel bias, and this is the second year in a row it has skipped its own review, a process the article says even authoritarian states take part in. The no-show is likely to push the review back to January, according to a draft UN document and diplomats.
The State Department spokesperson said participation would imply endorsement of the council's work. "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, without responding to allegations about the US record. The 47-member council has not directly criticized Washington's rights record, but its appointed experts have, including over migrant deportations. Washington said deportations are carried out in accordance with US immigration law.
The Universal Periodic Review asks all 193 UN member states to submit a rights report every few years, which other states then review with non-binding recommendations. UN documents show countries had planned to raise abortion and the death penalty at the November 10, 2026 session. US and international non-governmental organizations also sent nearly 200 UN submissions covering topics from migration to racial discrimination.
"We've seen attacks on fundamental human rights and civil liberties unprecedented in generations," Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union told reporters in Geneva. "Enough is enough." Fourteen countries are due to take part in the review process in Geneva in November 2026. During Trump's first term in office, the US submitted its UPR report.
Noor Abdalla, wife of pro-Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was held in immigration detention in 2025, is among campaigners pressing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk to promptly hold a briefing on the US rights situation, even without Washington present. "When the most powerful government in the world is not held accountable, they think that they can do whatever they want," Abdalla told reporters. Diplomats were skeptical, given that few states want to confront Washington. "The view is to leave the door open and hope they come back in two years," one diplomat said.