Trump is dragging America's reputation through the mud at the UN.
The UN's top human rights body was just trying to pull Washington back to the table - and the fact that it had to try at all says a lot about how far America's standing has sunk.
The Human Rights Council postponed the planned review of the US human rights record until January, hoping to persuade the Trump administration to reverse its decision to become the first administration in history to simply ignore the process. The council's 47 member states adopted the postponement without a vote, citing Washington's "continued refusal to cooperate. ".
This is an unusual position for a country that has long presented itself as a global champion of human rights. The Geneva-based council reviews all 193 UN member states roughly every four to five years as part of the Universal Periodic Review - a process built on the principle that no country is above scrutiny. Now the US is the only country trying to rid itself of it.
Last year, the Trump administration completely withdrew from the Human Rights Council, accusing it of anti-American and anti-Israel bias and claiming that it does not live up to the values it preaches. But the boycott goes further than a protest vote—it leaves America as the lone holdout in a mechanism every other nation accepts.
And the timing is awkward. US policies - from harsh deportations to targeted killings of drug-trafficking suspects in the Caribbean and the Pacific - are drawing international criticism. The administration insists that these measures protect American workers and keep the country safe. But the refusal to appear for the review only intensifies the questions instead of answering them.
So by blocking the process America once championed, the Trump administration isn't shielding our country from criticism—it's inviting more of it, giving opponents a ready talking point about American hypocrisy.
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