Washington has ignored the human rights review process for the second year in a row, as reported by Reuters. It is also important to note that the United States has become the first country to refuse to undergo this review twice in a row. As a result, the seat reserved for the American delegation in Geneva remains empty.
I believe it is important to explain what the Universal Periodic Review ( UPR ) actually is. It is a mandatory mechanism established in 2006 by the UN Human Rights Council. Every four and a half years, each of the 193 UN member states reports to delegations from other countries on the state of human rights within its territory. And just so you know, practically every country has undergone this procedure, including authoritarian regimes ( and that is important ). In 2013, Israel became the first country to refuse to appear for its own review. However, just nine months later, it returned and completed the process. The United States, meanwhile, became the first country to skip this procedure twice in a row.
When Donald Trump's administration withdrew the United States from the UN Human Rights Council back in 2025, it accused the body of showing persistent bias against the US and Israel. For years, Washington has criticised the Council for its ineffectiveness and double standards, pointing out that authoritarian states such as China and Cuba are regularly elected to its membership. Russia was also previously a member of the Council, but its membership was suspended in 2022 following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia, in particular, has been actively expanding its influence in Africa by cooperating with local governments in military and economic matters. In some cases, this cooperation helps Moscow secure their support or neutrality during votes concerning the war against Ukraine. Of course, not all African countries take these positions solely because of Russian influence, as each has its own interests. At the same time, authoritarian states can use the UN platform to criticise democracies while diverting attention from their own human rights violations. The US State Department has now stated that participating in the review would amount to supporting the work of a Council that Washington considers a hopeless organisation, one that mocks human rights and spreads anti-American rhetoric.
Since UN rules do not allow a full review to take place without the participation of representatives of the country concerned, the Council was forced to postpone the review of the United States' human rights record for a second time, this time to January 18–29, 2027. The UN itself described this refusal as regrettable ( although, in my opinion, the only regrettable thing here is the UN's reaction to that refusal ).
Once again, the UN is indeed a weak organisation when it comes to military conflicts, and it rarely takes any particularly decisive action. The war between Russia and Ukraine is one example. However, it is also important to understand that the UN's purpose is not to stop wars instantly or force superpowers into submission. Its role is to provide a neutral platform where even an autocrat and a democrat are forced to sit in the same room, document human rights violations and, at the very least, maintain some form of official communication.
