The United States skipped a scheduled review of its human rights record before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, declining to participate in a process that has been in place for nearly two decades.
The Trump administration’s absence marked the first time a country has refused to participate in an entire cycle of the council’s Universal Periodic Review, a process in which all 193 U.N. member states are scrutinized for their human rights records. The U.N. Human Rights Council voted to postpone the U.S.’s review until January to bring Washington back into the process.
Speaking at the opening of Tuesday’s meeting in Geneva, Ambassador Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro of Indonesia said the absence of the U.S. delegation meant the review could not proceed as scheduled. The council suspended the working group session and convened a separate organizational meeting to consider its next steps.
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FILE – The empty seat of the U.S. delegation, during the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 8, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP File)” class=”wp-image-4798390″ srcset=”https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/un-postpones-us-human-rights-review-after-boycott.webp 1024w, https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/un-postpones-us-human-rights-review-after-boycott.webp?resize=300,200 300w, https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/un-postpones-us-human-rights-review-after-boycott.webp?resize=768,512 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”><figcaption class=)
The empty seat of the U.S. delegation during the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 8, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP File)“Universality is the foundation on which the credibility of the universal periodic review rests,” Suryodipuro said, urging all U.N. member states to participate in the process.
“The mechanism can only fulfill this purpose if all states engage with it,” he added.
Suryodipuro said the council’s rules require the participation of the country being reviewed, making it impossible to proceed without an American delegation.
The council instead considered a draft decision addressing what it described as the continued noncooperation of a state under review. The proposal calls on the U.S. to resume participating in the process and asks the council president to continue efforts to persuade Washington to return.
It would also reschedule the U.S. review for the 54th session of the Universal Periodic Review working group and allow the council to consider further action if the U.S. continues to refuse participation.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department for comment.
The decision comes after the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the U.N. Human Rights Council last year, citing what it described as anti-American and anti-Israel bias within the body.
Several council members criticized the American absence during Tuesday’s meeting.
The Netherlands, speaking on behalf of European Union members on the council, said the decision not to participate undermined a mechanism whose credibility depends on every country being subject to the same scrutiny.
“All states are subject to the scrutiny of their human rights situation by the international community,” the representative said. “All states should therefore take advantage of the UPR to discuss their human rights situation with their peers.”
Spain echoed the EU’s position, saying the review process helps strengthen the credibility of the international human rights system and prevents perceptions of selectivity.
Cuba offered a more pointed rebuke, accusing the U.S. of hypocrisy for criticizing other countries’ human rights records while refusing to subject its own government to international scrutiny.
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“The United States is the only country in the history of the Human Rights Council which has refused to take part in a UPR cycle without even presenting its national report,” the Cuban representative said.
The representative accused the Trump administration of pursuing a “racist agenda” through its immigration policies, alleging that mass deportations, police brutality, and military operations abroad demonstrated the need for international oversight.
