The United States boycotted Tuesday a United Nations review of its human rights record for a second time, in an unprecedented snub of a process that all countries traditionally submit to.
US seats were left empty at the world body’s European headquarters in Geneva for the so-called Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which all 193 UN member states undergo every four to five years.
As the review was set to begin, UN Human Rights Council president Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro, of Indonesia, looked at the empty seats behind the US nameplate and noted that “the delegation of the United States is not present in the room.”
The US absence was not a surprise. President Donald Trump’s administration decided shortly after his return to power in January 2025 to halt cooperation with the rights council, and had already boycotted the UPR process last November.
In response, the council at the time had postponed the US review for a year, in the hope that Washington would return to the fold, but to no avail.
But the US State Department told AFP that the administration considers the council an “irredeemable body” that “makes a mockery of human rights,” suggesting that it would not participate in any of its mechanisms, including the UPR.
Washington’s complete non-compliance with the process is unprecedented.
Before the United States, only Israel had previously boycotted its UPR, in early 2013, although it underwent a delayed review later that year.
Some countries have sought postponements since the UPR process began in 2008, while Nicaragua partially boycotted the process, but only after its latest review had already taken place.
