On Feb. 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). This becomes the second time the country has withdrawn from the council.
The UNHRC is a 47-member intergovernmental institution. Members discuss how to improve human rights around the world and draft resolutions, prompting governments to take action in their respective countries.
Every four and a half years, all 47 members, including the U.S., are expected to peer review its human rights records under the Universal Periodic Review, examining the entirety of U.N. member states’ human rights records.
However, last year, Trump decided to remove the U.S. from the council. This decision aligns with the Trump administration’s policy of scaling back U.S. involvement in international organizations and agreements that do not align with U.S. national sovereignty.
Trump signed the executive order in Feb. 2025, triggering a 180-day review period. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was tasked with evaluating whether the council aligned with the interests of the U.S.
This decision finally culminated this month, when the White House reaffirmed the U.S. decision to leave the council and criticized the council’s jurisdiction over the U.S. The administration solidified that there would be a firm refusal to cooperate with the UNHRC or seek a seat in the future.
The UNHRC was created in 2006 during the George W. Bush administration. However, Bush opted out of joining the council amid concerns that human rights offenders would be able to join the council through nomination.
In 2009, the Barack Obama administration had a differing opinion and took a seat on the council to highlight the importance of human rights in U.S. policy.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, served as the U.N. ambassador for the U.S. from 2017 to 2018. In 2018, while Haley was ambassador, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the UNHRC for the second time in American history, claiming the council had a bias against Israel.
Haley called the institution a “cesspool of political bias.” Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State at the time, argued that the U.S. could not “remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.” Both argued that the council’s membership of countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iran, which they viewed as having abusive human rights records, demonstrated the organization’s failures and justified the U.S. withdrawal.
The council has often been criticized by non-government organizations (NGOs) for allowing council members to disregard their own wrongdoings and use the platform to their own global political advantage.
The only two countries that have been debarred from the UNHRC are Libya, for their regime’s attacks on unarmed protestors in 2011, and Russia for their unwarranted mass civilian casualties in 2022.
Gennady V. Kuzmin, Russia’s U.N. deputy ambassador, claimed their removal was an “attempt by the U.S. to maintain its dominant position and total control in international relations.”
In 2017, in an announcement to the U.N. General Assembly, Trump said, “It is a massive source of embarrassment to the United Nations that some governments with egregious human rights records sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council.”
When former president Joe Biden took office in 2021, the U.S. rejoined the UNHRC to renew the country’s international engagement. However, in 2024, the U.S. opted out of renewing their seat for his second term.
“I’ve always felt that the U.N. has tremendous potential,” Trump said before signing the order. “It’s not living up to that potential right now. It hasn’t for a long time.”
“A lot of these conflicts that we’re working on should be settled, or at least we should have some help in settling them,” Trump said. “But we never seem to get help.”
The executive order reads, “some of the UN’s agencies and bodies have drifted from this mission and instead act contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating anti-Semitism.”