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TWN
Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Nov25/02) Penang, 11 Nov (Kanaga Raja) — The United Nations Human Rights Council on 7 November adopted a decision on “non-cooperation” after the United States failed to participate in the universal periodic review mechanism in Geneva. At an organizational meeting on 7 November, the Human Rights Council adopted a decision on “non-cooperation of a State under review with the universal periodic review mechanism.” In its decision, the Council urged the United States to resume its cooperation with the universal periodic review (UPR) mechanism. It also decided to reschedule the UPR of the United States to 2026. The human rights record of 14 States, including the United States, was scheduled to be examined during the 50th session of the Working Group of the UPR from 3 to 14 November, according to a UN news release. The UPR is a unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a human rights peer review every four-and-a-half years. The UPR Working Group comprises the entire membership of the 47-member Human Rights Council and other UN Member or Observer States wishing to take part. The UPR process is based on equal treatment for all countries, and provides an opportunity for all States to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights. The documents on which the reviews are based include: (1) National Report – information provided by the State under review; (2) Compilation of UN Information – information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the special procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities; (3) Summary of Stakeholders’ Information – information provided by other stakeholders, including national human rights institutions, regional organizations, and civil society groups. The States that are scheduled to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its 50th session are, in order of scheduled review: Belarus, Liberia, Malawi, Mongolia, Panama, the Maldives, Andorra, Bulgaria, Honduras, the United States of America, the Marshall Islands, Croatia, Jamaica and Libya. The review of the United States was scheduled to take place during the afternoon of 7 November. Before issuing its decision, the Human Rights Council had given the US delegation until the afternoon of 7 November to appear in person before the Council. According to media reports, the United States failed to do so – the first time it has refused to take part in its own human rights review. While the Compilation of UN Information and Summary of Stakeholders’ Information for the fourth-cycle UPR of the United States remain available online, the US did not submit its National Report before the scheduled date of its review on 7 November. In its adopted decision on “non-cooperation” by the United States with the UPR, the UN Human Rights Council expressed regret at the decision of the United States of America (“the State under review”) not to participate in the UPR during the 50th session of the Working Group. In this regard, it called upon the State under review “to resume its cooperation with the universal periodic review mechanism, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 60/251 and Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 and the annex thereto.” The Council further requested “the President of the Human Rights Council to take all appropriate steps and measures, in accordance with his mandate, to urge the State under review to resume its cooperation with the universal periodic review mechanism and to report on the results of his efforts to the Council at its regular sessions.” In the adopted decision, the Council decided to reschedule the UPR of the United States of America, with a view to conducting it in 2026, to the 53rd session of the Working Group, while leaving open the possibility for it to be scheduled sooner. CSOs VOICE CRITICISM Meanwhile, a number of civil society organizations (CSOs) joined the UN Human Rights Council in urging the Trump administration to cooperate with the Universal Periodic Review, according to a press release issued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on 7 November. The ACLU noted that in August, the Trump administration announced that it would boycott the UPR, breaking longstanding participation in the UPR in an attempt to evade accountability for its human rights record. In response to the failure of the US to appear and the adoption of the resolution on non-cooperation, CSOs and state and local officials, who are attending the Working Group meeting in Geneva this week, echoed the Human Rights Council’s calls on the Trump administration to resume its cooperation with the UPR, it said. “The Human Rights Council’s decision makes clear that the Trump administration cannot evade accountability,” said Jamil Dakwar, director of the Human Rights Program at the American Civil Liberties Union. “We condemn the Trump administration for undermining the UPR and setting a dangerous example that will further weaken universal human rights at home and abroad,” he added. “The Trump administration is abandoning its obligations to human rights protections domestically and internationally,” said Robert Saleem Holbrook, executive director of the Abolitionist Law Center. “In yet another instance of the authoritarian path this administration is embarking on, the refusal to participate in the UPR’s international convening will only harm its own interests. The decision reflects a reckless act devoid of leadership and deserves to be condemned and rebuked in the strongest possible terms,” Holbrook added. “The Trump administration’s unprecedented decision not to participate in the UPR human rights review is shameful and reflective of the fact that they are either unwilling or unable to defend their abhorrent human rights record,” said Chandra Bhatnagar, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California. “From the discrimination and violence inflicted in the ICE raids, to the attacks on free speech of protesters and journalists, to the deployment of the national guard in American cities when no crisis exists, the world is watching the United States government attacking the constitutional and human rights of its own people,” added Bhatnagar. Siya Hegde, Staff Attorney at the National Homelessness Law Center, said “the Trump Administration’s failure to show up for its own review and pretend it is above the law has again made it clear that it does not care about basic human rights.” “To maintain any sense of legitimacy for the international human rights system that has provided protections for billions of people for the past 80 years, the UN Human Rights Council must call this out in the strongest possible terms,” Hegde added. “Without this international accountability, the risk of harms to people both in the US and abroad, including to the millions of unhoused people in the US who are being criminalized simply for not being able to afford the rent, will go up even more than it already has,” said Hegde. “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,” said Carolyn Nash, the Advocacy Director with Amnesty International USA. “The Trump administration has doubled down on its disregard for international accountability and human rights at home and around the world.” “This failure to participate is a further abandonment of the US government’s human rights commitments – it must not stand,” Nash added. She said the Trump administration can, and must, reverse course, submit its national report for the review, even belatedly, and attend its review in 2026. “The international community must act now with the courage demonstrated by all sectors of civil society and people’s movements fighting back against the US government’s cruelty and belligerence,” said Nadia Ben- Youssef, Advocacy Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. +
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