United Nations Human Rights Council: Universal Periodic Review of the United States rescheduled to next year
On August 28, 2025, the United States of America announced that they would not participate in the next Universal Periodic Review, withdrawing from the 50th session of the Working Group, scheduled for November 3-14, 2025.
On November 7, the date originally set for the Working Group on the United States, the Human Rights Council adopted the decision to set the possibility of proceeding with the review of the United States' respect, protection, and promotion of human rights in April 2026, during the 53rd session of the Working Group.
While expressing regret at the decision of the US not to participate in the UPR, the Council invited them to re-establish collaboration with the universal periodic review mechanism, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 60/251 and Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 and its respective annex.
Despite the US decision, many civil society organizations have not stopped and have organized events in Geneva and the USA to raise awareness of the entire international community on crucial human rights issues.
The Universal Periodic Review is a process created by the UN Human Rights Council in 2006. Every four and a half years, each UN member state undergoes an examination of its human rights situation by other countries. The UPR aims to improve the respect, protection, and promotion of human rights worldwide through dialogue and cooperation. Indeed, different states have the opportunity to share their progress on human rights, highlight the challenges they are facing, and receive feedback from other countries. It aims to improve human rights situations worldwide through dialogue and cooperation. Therefore, accepting the recommendations of the Working Groups is not only an obligation towards the international community but constitutes, even more significantly, a commitment to each of its own citizens.
It is not the first time that the UPR mechanism has been called into question. In the past, Israel had initially refused to participate in 2012 (but resumed engagement the following year), the examination of the situation in Ukraine was postponed in 2022, and more recently Myanmar and Nicaragua participated in the process only partially.
The States that have been reviewed by the UPR Working Group during the 50th session thus far are Belarus, Liberia, Malawi, Mongolia, Panama, the Maldives, Andorra, Bulgaria, and Honduras. While the Marshall Islands, Croatia, Jamaica, and Libya are yet to be examined.
The USA's decision, the first UN member state not to participate in its own UPR, continues to draw much criticism and raises uncertainty about the future of the UPR itself.