US to Shun UN Human Rights Review      11/10 06:12

   

   GENEVA (AP) -- The United States is set Tuesday to become the first country 
to fully shun a regular review of its human rights record at the U.N.'s top 
rights body since it was created two decades ago.

   The Trump administration last year pulled the U.S. out of the Human Rights 
Council, accusing it of an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel bias, and alleging that it 
didn't uphold the very values it promotes.

   Supporters back the council's mandate to keep tabs on human rights in all 
U.N. member states including the U.S., which has drawn criticism for its 
policies including strong-arm deportations and targeted killings of alleged 
drug-runners in the Caribbean and Pacific -- which the administration has said 
are designed to protect U.S. workers and help keep the country safe.

   The Geneva-based council regularly examines the rights records of all 193 
U.N. member states -- generally about every four to five years -- as part of a 
process known as the universal periodic review.

   The United States, under Trump, already skipped its appointment for its 
review a year ago. The scheduled November 2025 review was pushed back until 
Tuesday in hopes that the U.S. government might change its mind.

   It did not.

   "(W)e give no credibility to the agency," a State Department spokesperson 
said in an email to The Associated Press.

   "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, alleging the council's "persistent failure to condemn the 
most egregious human rights violators."

   The council says the process requires participation of the country in 
question, and in the case of an absence of any national representatives, the 
review cannot go forward.

   As part of such reviews, national delegations -- which at times can include 
a dozen officials or more -- make a presentation, face questions and hear 
recommendations from other national envoys. It's supposed to be a sweeping and 
constructive process, akin to holding up a mirror to governments to improve 
their human rights policies.

   Critics of the U.S. snub warn that the walkout could encourage other 
countries -- many of which bristle about intense scrutiny from human rights 
monitors -- to follow suit.

   Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's human rights 
program, said: "The administration is saying to the world, 'we don't care about 
whether you would review us or not, we're going to continue to violate human 
rights unabashed'."

   "And we are saying: 'No, enough is enough. This council should hold the 
United States accountable'," he told reporters Monday in Geneva, as part of a 
push by civil society to raise awareness about the U.S. rights record.

   He said the ACLU and allies have called on the U.N. human rights chief to 
respond by presenting an update on rights in the United States early next year.

   Eric Tistounet, a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute who 
was the council's first secretary, said the U.S. walkout could affect the 
credibility of the council's review system.

   "If the predominant global power -- which has always claimed to adhere to 
the human rights norms -- doesn't show up and doesn't even justify why, then 
you are in big trouble," he said.