US boycotts UN human rights review for second year, delaying it to January 2027

The US delegation does not appear

The United States did not take part in its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, 10 November. The review examines the rights record of all 193 UN member states, each of which must go through it every four to five years. When the session was due to open, the council's president, Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro of Indonesia, told the room that the American delegation was missing.

“The delegation of the United States is not present in the room.”

The session, scheduled to run for several hours, was closed after only a few minutes. Only the Netherlands, Cuba and Spain took the floor during the round of interventions. The council then approved a text criticising the country's 'continued lack of cooperation' and moved the review again, this time to January 2027.

Why Washington stays away

The US left the council in February 2025, arguing that it was biased against Israel. Since then the administration has been a fierce critic of the UN, withdrawing the country from key agencies, cutting funding and bypassing the body when it launched the war on Iran. A State Department spokesperson said that taking part would amount to endorsing the council's work and that Washington gives the agency no credibility. The statement did not respond to allegations about the US rights record.

“This irredeemable body makes a mockery of human rights through consistent failures to uphold its own 'values' as it pushes anti-American rhetoric.”

The council has not directly criticised Washington's record, although experts have voiced alarm over migrant deportations, which the US government says follow national immigration law. The timing of the boycott is captured in the sequence below.

What the review would have covered

In the UPR, each state prepares a report, while other states can put questions and recommendations to it, though these carry no binding force. UN documents indicate that delegations intended to ask about abortion access and capital punishment in the US case. Nearly 200 written contributions from American and international NGOs address migration and racial discrimination, among other areas. The US did submit a UPR report during Trump's first term. Only Israel had previously boycotted its review, in early 2013, and it went through the process later that year, which makes the US refusal without precedent.

Rights groups respond

Rights organisations argue that abuses since Trump's return to office have reached a scale not recorded for decades. Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union told reporters in Geneva that the country was facing a wave of rights violations.

“We've seen attacks on fundamental human rights and civil liberties unprecedented in generations.”

Dakwar also said that 'enough is enough', as activists pressed for a response from the council and the government.

What happens next

The council has now set the examination for January 2027, after a November 2025 decision to delay it by one year. Fourteen countries are due to take part in the review process in Geneva this month. The United States remains outside the process, as its State Department has said that participation would imply endorsement of the council's work.