Empty chair in Geneva: U.S. becomes the first country ever to skip the U.N. human rights review twice

Empty chair in Geneva: U.S. becomes the first country ever to skip the U.N. human rights review twice.

The United States left its seat empty at a United Nations review of its human rights record in Geneva on Tuesday, becoming the only U.N. member state ever to boycott the process twice, NPR and CBS News reported.

The universal periodic review examines the rights records of all 193 member states roughly every four to five years. Washington skipped its scheduled November 2025 appointment, and the session was pushed back a year in the hope the administration would reconsider. It did not.

In an email to The Associated Press, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. gives "no credibility" to the Human Rights Council, calling it an "irredeemable body" that "pushes anti-American rhetoric," according to CBS News. The Trump administration withdrew from the 47-member council last year, alleging bias against the U.S. and Israel. But leaving the council does not exempt a country from the review, which is obligatory for every member state.

Civil liberties groups traveled to Geneva with evidence on the treatment of immigrants, student protesters and LGBTQ people. Other governments had prepared questions on the death penalty, restrictions on abortion and lethal U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean that many international lawyers consider illegal, NPR reported. Jamil Dakwar, human rights director at the American Civil Liberties Union, told reporters: "Enough is enough. This council should hold the United States accountable."

Only Israel has skipped a review before, in 2013, and it returned within a year. Even authoritarian states such as North Korea take part. Eric Tistounet, the council's first secretary, told CBS News that if "the predominant global power" does not show up, "then you are in big trouble."

The council says a review cannot go forward without the state being reviewed in the room. U.N. officials fear that holding one anyway could encourage other governments to stay away, so they have put off a decision until January. In the meantime, a process seen as a last resort for victims of rights abuses is out of reach for Americans, which one activist in Geneva called "a crisis of accountability."