As world leaders, activists, and delegates from all 193 UN member states gather in New York for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the international community marks eight decades since the founding of the UN. In Washington, human rights advocates will be holding their breath to see if the Trump administration’s rapid, chaotic and cruel attempts to dismantle human rights systems, expertise and programs in its foreign policy and assistance will further spread and weaken the octogenarian multilateral without bold defense by the U.S. Congress or UN member states.
UNGA is a vital platform for global cooperation. This year’s session is more than a commemoration of this multilateral system. It is a pivotal moment in the challenge to fully realize universal human rights. The United States helped build this imperfect but indispensable multilateral system, yet in 2025, President Donald Trump’s actions undermine the very institutions and values the UN was created to uphold.
Since taking office, President Trump has waged an assault on human rights—both at home and abroad—undermining the foundations of international justice, eroding accountability, and emboldening those who trample on human rights. His actions are not merely misguided policy choices; they represent a calculated rejection of the global human rights framework the U.S. once helped to build out after the Holocaust.
Trump is undermining human rights and international institutions
Throughout the first nine months of this presidential term, President Trump has undermined global systems designed to protect the human rights of people around the world. His administration has treated human rights not as universal guarantees, but as political tools to further his own agenda — highlighted selectively or ignored entirely.
President Trump’s global anti-human rights campaign has included:
– Withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council
Trump’s withdrawal from the Human Rights Council signaled that he is uninterested in having a seat at the table to shape the norms and policies of the future, or in protecting the human rights of people in the U.S. and around the world by holding governments accountable.
– Refusing to engage with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
Not satisfied to just sit out the Human Rights Council, the administration withdrew from the UPR, which previously had 100 percent of UN member state engagement. The UPR is a cornerstone of universality in international human rights accountability. U.S. disengagement risks making it the first country to ever completely abandon this vital peer-review process. This is a rejection of the idea that all governments, including the U.S., should be held to account through the same process for how they treat people in their countries.
– Recklessly reorganizing the Department of State, nearly eliminating human rights capacity
Secretary Marco Rubio has ruthlessly and recklessly reorganized the State Department to eliminate certain offices and bureaus, including the Office of Global Women’s Issues, the Office of Global Criminal Justice, and the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. He further drastically reduced (by an estimated 90 percent) mission-critical bureaus, namely the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and the Bureau of Population Refugees, and Migration (PRM). This slash-and-burn approach to vital State Department programs will have devastating consequences for the most marginalized people by attacking crucial diplomatic, policy and program offices that serve people and engage with multilateral institutions working to advance dignity and human rights.
– Politicizing the U.S. State Department’s annual human rights reports
Under President Trump, the U.S. State Department has weaponized its annual human rights reports to advance narrow political agendas. The result: a selective and hypocritical narrative that erodes trust and diminishes the global fight against human rights abuses. At the same time, the administration is advancing a vague concept of “natural rights,” undermining the principles of universality, indivisibility, interdependence, equality and accountability that underpin international human rights law.
The Trump administration has also retreated from global responsibility by pulling out of key international institutions and slashing funding for foreign aid
These actions have far-reaching consequences for the world’s most marginalized communities, and even sanctioned judges, prosecutors and human rights organizations engaging with the International Criminal Court.
Some examples:
– Abandoning the Paris Climate Agreement
The climate crisis is a human rights emergency. Displacement, food insecurity, and loss of life caused by the climate crisis disproportionately harm those least responsible for the crisis. The U.S., as one of the world’s largest historical emitters, has a moral and legal responsibility to lead global action. Instead, earlier this year, the Trump administration pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
– Withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO)
Especially after living through a global pandemic, we know that global health cooperation is not optional; it is a cornerstone of public safety and human rights. Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO endangers lives and sent a signal that the U.S. under President Trump isn’t interested in global health or keeping the world safe.
– Slashing foreign assistance and humanitarian aid
Abrupt cuts to life-saving programs have devastated progress in health, education, water access, food security, and gender equality. These are not just funding decisions, they are direct attacks on the economic and social rights of millions of people, particularly women, children, and displaced populations.
– Blocking funding to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
In cutting support for an agency that provides critical services in maternal health, family planning, and gender-based violence prevention, the Trump administration has demonstrated blatant disregard for the rights and survival of women and girls, especially those living in conflict zones and experiencing humanitarian crises. President Trump has also continued to block U.S. funding to UNRWA, a cruel and unconscionable move that has exacerbated the suffering of Palestinians.
President Trump’s approach to human rights and multilateral institutions is a global problem. When a powerful state like the U.S. abandons its human rights commitments, it gives permission for others to do the same. It legitimizes repression, rewards impunity, and weakens the entire system of international law.
The only acceptable pathway for the world: human rights come first
As Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard has said, the only road forward is one “paved with universal and indivisible human rights. And there is only one acceptable destination: the sustainable equal dignity of all persons as rightsholders.”
Call to action at UNGA 2025: An urgent need for a multilateral response
Now more than ever, the world needs multilateralism based on human rights. While the Trump administration may have taken actions to isolate itself, it must not halt the global progress over the last 80 years to advance human rights, justice, and accountability. The U.S. Congress and UN member states should not stand by and leave the institution undefended.
International human rights and the multilateral institutions designed to protect and advance them are lifelines that represent hope for people fleeing persecution, women seeking safety, families surviving armed conflict, and communities facing climate devastation. Weakening them is reckless and deadly.
At UNGA 2025, Amnesty International urges world leaders to rise to this moment with clarity and courage. The world must not allow the Trump administration’s dangerous actions to derail decades of progress toward a more just, equitable, and peaceful world.