The United States won’t participate in a United Nations review of its human rights record, arguing engaging with the process would present an endorsement of the UN Human Rights Council, which President Trump withdrew the U.S. from in February.

A State Department official said taking part would ignore the body’s “persistent failure to condemn the most egregious human rights violators” and that the U.S. would not be “lectured about our human rights record by the likes of HRC members such as Venezuela, China, or Sudan.”

The review, according to the U.N., is aimed at promoting introspection of human rights record and encouraging accountability on the global stage. 

Known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), it calls on member states to submit a report every 4.5 years on actions it has taken to improve the human rights situation in their own countries, and receive recommendations from member states for continued improvement. The U.S. was expected to submit its report in November. 

Reuters first reported that the U.S. would not participate.

Spokespeople for the intergovernmental U.N. Human Rights Council and U.N. human rights office told Reuters that the U.S. Mission in Geneva had notified them of the decision.

The move was slammed by human rights advocates. The U.S.-based Human Rights First called the Trump administration’s refusal to participate “another damaging setback to American credibility on human rights and accountability.”

HRF said that the U.S. joins Israel as the only country to not submit a report since the UPR started in 2006, but noted that Israel rejoined the process in 2013, 2018 and 2023.

“Showing up and explaining your own record on human rights is the bare minimum for any government that purports to exercise international leadership and uphold democratic norms,” said Uzra Zeya, President and CEO of Human Rights First. Zeya previously served as under secretary of state for civilian security, democracy, and human rights in the Biden administration.

“The United States isn’t being singled out — every UN member state takes its turn having its human rights record assessed. Running away from that scrutiny doesn’t just show weakness and a lack of confidence, it will give rights-abusing governments cover to do the same themselves,” she continued. 

Phil Lynch, executive director of international service for Human Rights First, criticized Trump as turning the U.S. into “a human rights pariah state.”

“To avoid a domino effect, it is important that a government’s refusal to participate in the UPR does not mean they escape scrutiny. Instead it should mean that other human rights experts and bodies intensify their focus and reporting on that State,” Lynch posted on the social media site X.  

Michael Posner, director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at N.Y.U. Stern School of Business, told Reuters that the U.S. was undermining global efforts on human rights.

“By withdrawing from the UPR, the U.S gives gross human rights abusers like Iran, Russia and Sudan an excuse to follow suit,” said Posner, a former senior State Department official who helped direct the UPR process under President Barack Obama.