U.S. skips U.N. rights review, a first for the council in two decades

The United States is set to become the first country to completely skip a review of its human rights record at the U.N.'s top rights body, a walkout scheduled for Tuesday in Geneva. The Trump administration pulled out of the Human Rights Council last year, calling it biased against the U.S. and Israel and saying it failed to live up to the values it promotes.

The review — known as the universal periodic review — normally examines all 193 U.N. member states roughly every four to five years. Washington already skipped its November 2025 slot; organizers pushed the date back a year in case the government changed its mind. It did not. The council says a review needs the country to take part, and with no national delegation in the room, it cannot go ahead.

A State Department spokesperson gave the Associated Press a blunt answer by email. The U.S. gives the agency no credibility, the spokesperson said, calling it an irredeemable body that makes a mockery of human rights and pushes anti-American rhetoric while failing to condemn the worst abusers. In a normal review, delegations of a dozen or more officials present their record, answer questions and hear recommendations from other countries.

The U.S. has drawn criticism over policies including strong-arm deportations and targeted killings of alleged drug-runners in the Caribbean and Pacific. The administration says those measures are meant to protect American workers and keep the country safe. Critics of the walkout warn other governments that chafe at scrutiny could follow Washington's lead.

Jamil Dakwar, who directs the ACLU's human rights program, told reporters in Geneva on Monday that the administration is telling the world it will keep violating human rights unabashed. Enough is enough, he said, and the council should hold the United States accountable. The ACLU and its allies want the U.N. human rights chief to present an update on rights in the U.S. early next year.

Eric Tistounet, the council's first secretary and now a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, said the absence cuts at the credibility of the whole review system. If the predominant global power doesn't show up — and doesn't even explain why — the process is in big trouble, he said. Tuesday's review is the first time any country has refused it outright.