The UN Human Rights Council postponed its universal periodic review of the United States until January following the Trump administration’s decision not to participate.
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The UN Human Rights Council agreed on Tuesday to postpone its regular review of the United States’ human rights record until January, seeking to persuade the Trump administration to reverse its refusal to take part in the process.
The council’s 47 member countries adopted the decision without a vote, citing “continued non-cooperation” with the review mechanism.
The Geneva-based council regularly examines the rights records of all 193 UN member states, generally every four to five years, through the universal periodic review.
The Trump administration pulled the United States out of the council last year, accusing it of anti-U.S. and anti-Israel bias and arguing the body does not uphold the values it promotes.
The review that had been scheduled for November 2025 was pushed back to Tuesday, but the United States did not participate; the U.S. State Department said the country “give[s] no credibility to the agency” and that the council makes “a mockery of human rights” through failures to uphold its own “values.”
Simone van der Post, a Dutch envoy speaking on behalf of EU council members, said after Tuesday’s decision that the EU regrets situations where full engagement with the mechanism does not occur, including the United States again not taking part in its review.
The council requires a country’s participation for its national review to occur, where national delegations typically make a presentation, face questions, and hear recommendations from other envoys.
Rights advocates said the U.S. should still be scrutinized like other countries, pointing to issues including migration, LGBT rights, racial discrimination, civic freedoms and “extrajudicial executions” in the Pacific and Caribbean.
Phil Lynch of International Service for Human Rights and Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the U.S. decision not to participate, with Dakwar saying the administration is telling the world it will continue to violate human rights.
Eric Tistounet, a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute and the council’s first secretary, said the U.S. walkout could harm the credibility of the review system.
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