In response to the U.S. government failing to participate in its national review at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, scheduled to take place on November 7, Amnesty International USA’s National Director of Government Relations, Amanda Klasing, said:
“This is unprecedented: the United States risks becoming the first country in the history of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review process to fully evade this important human rights-related review. The Trump administration has doubled down on its disregard for international accountability and human rights at home and around the world. By refusing to engage in this process, the Trump administration has joined states such as Nicaragua in undermining this mechanism, putting the U.S. in the global lead of the race to the bottom when it comes to human rights.
“The UPR is a peer-review process established in 2006 in which each UN Member State reports what it is doing to protect and advance human rights. While there have been procedural delays over the years, no country has ever failed to participate in the review cycle in some form. In the absence of a course correction the U.S. is on track to set a shameful precedent.
“From chilling dissent and criminalizing protests, extrajudicial killings of people on boats in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the near dismantling of all human rights capacity within U.S. foreign policy funding and structure, this administration has overseen an alarming erosion of human rights protections. Disengaging from the UPR fits a broader pattern of avoidance, secrecy, and abdication of responsibility.
“The UPR is one of the few processes where every government, including the U.S., has an opportunity to both report on its progress and hold others to account. The U.S. has historically been an active participant in this process since its inception. It’s a mistake to abandon a process the U.S. helped build and support.
“There is still time. The Human Rights Council has taken the step to reschedule the United States’ review in November 2026. The Trump administration can, and must, reverse course, submit its national report for the review, even belatedly and attend its review in 2026. Likewise, the Human Rights Council and its member states should work expeditiously towards maintaining full participation in the UPR process by all states, including the U.S. The U.S. Congress must urgently step in and exercise oversight to ensure the U.S. government does not walk away from this crucial review.
“The outright unwillingness to engage is an attack on the promotion and protection of human rights. This emboldens rights violators, and leaves people in the U.S. and abroad more at risk of human rights violations.
“The world is watching. The Trump administration’s failure to participate in this process is an abandonment of the U.S. government’s human rights commitments – it must not stand.”
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