US set to skip UN rights review again

The United States is expected to skip its regular UN human rights review again, drawing criticism from civil society organisations and rights advocates in Geneva ahead of the scheduled session on Tuesday.

Jamil Dakwar, head of the ACLU's human rights programme, said the US government would not appear “for the second year” to answer questions about what he called systemic human rights violations. He urged the UN Human Rights Council to help hold the United States accountable.

The US State Department said President Donald Trump's administration had no intention of taking part. A department spokesman said Washington had formally withdrawn from the Human Rights Council last year and described the council as an “irredeemable body” that “makes a mockery of human rights” and “pushes anti-American rhetoric”.

The United States boycotted its Universal Periodic Review last November. The Human Rights Council postponed the review for a year in the hope that Washington would participate.

The Universal Periodic Review covers all 193 UN member states every four to five years. Before the United States, only Israel had boycotted a review, in 2013, though Israel later underwent a delayed review.

Advocates in Geneva raised concerns including immigration policy, reproductive rights and freedom of expression. Civil society groups have called for more scrutiny by UN rights chief Volker Turk and a more active role by the Human Rights Council, but countries are expected on Tuesday only to consider another postponement of the US review.