GENEVA — The United States left an empty chair at a key United Nations human rights review on September 30, 2026, becoming the only member state in the history of the organization to boycott the process for two consecutive years.
The universal periodic review requires every one of the 193 U.N. member states to undergo a peer evaluation of its human rights record every four to five years. While diplomats from evaluated nations normally attend, civil society groups also submit evidence. A delegation led by the American Civil Liberties Union traveled to Geneva for the session, according to NPR.
Jamil Dakwar, the ACLU’s human rights director, told journalists that the current administration was continuing to violate human rights “unabashed,” pointing to the treatment of immigrants, student protesters, and the LGBTQ community. Dakwar said the U.N. must hold the U.S. accountable, warning that the Trump administration wanted to “dismantle human rights,” NPR reported.
In a written response, the State Department pointed out that Washington had already formally withdrawn from the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council, accusing the body of “pushing anti-American rhetoric,” as reported by NPR. Human rights organizations view the boycott as part of a broader pattern of disengagement from multilateral institutions, noting previous U.S. sanctions against the International Criminal Court and its departure from the World Health Organization.
The U.N. has few enforcement mechanisms for states that skip the review. Israel previously boycotted a single review in 2013 over alleged anti-Israel bias, returning nine months later after the session was rescheduled. Until the current U.S. absence, no nation had ever failed to show up twice, NPR noted.
Rights advocates urged the U.N. to proceed with the review regardless, utilizing evidence gathered on alleged violations regarding abortion restrictions and the death penalty. However, U.N. officials expressed concern that holding an evaluation without a representative to answer questions could set a dangerous precedent, potentially encouraging authoritarian regimes like North Korea to also bypass the mandatory check.
The U.N. has postponed further discussions on how to respond until early next year. Meanwhile, human rights defenders in Geneva described the situation as a crisis of accountability, leaving domestic victims without access to an international review mechanism.
Omar El Sayed – World Editor
