US to skip UN human rights review, drawing censure

GENEVA: The United States will spurn a UN meeting on Tuesday where its human rights record under President Donald Trump was due to be examined, drawing criticism from rights groups who say violations have surged to levels not seen in decades.

Washington disengaged from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council last year, citing an anti-Israel bias, and this is the second year in a row that it has skipped its own review — a process that even dictatorships take part in.

The US no-show will likely mean the event is postponed until January, according to a draft UN document and diplomats.

A US State Department spokesperson said participation would imply endorsement of the council's work.

"This irredeemable body makes a mockery of human rights through consistent failures to uphold its own 'values' as it pushes anti-American rhetoric," the spokesperson said, without responding to allegations about the US record.

The 47-member council has not directly criticised Washington's rights record but its appointed experts have, such as over migrant deportations. Washington said deportations are carried out in accordance with US immigration law.

QUESTIONS ON ABORTION AND DEATH PENALTY

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) asks all 193 UN member states to submit a rights report every few years and these are reviewed by other states which provide non-binding recommendations.

UN documents show countries had planned on Tuesday to raise issues such as abortion and the death penalty.

US and international non-governmental organisations also sent nearly 200 UN submissions covering topics from migration to racial discrimination.

“We've seen attacks on fundamental human rights and civil liberties unprecedented in generations," Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union told reporters in Geneva. "Enough is enough."

Fourteen countries are due to take part in the review process in Geneva this month. In Trump's first term in office, the US submitted its UPR report.

Noor Abdalla, wife of pro-Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was held in immigration detention last year, is among campaigners pressing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk to promptly hold a briefing on the US rights situation, even in Washington's absence.

"When the most powerful government in the world is not held accountable, they think that they can do whatever they want," Abdalla told reporters.

However, diplomats were sceptical given that few states want to confront Washington.

"The view is to leave the door open and hope they come back in two years," said a diplomat.