February 4, 2025

State Department withdraws from UN Human Rights Council

State Department signals exit over anti-Israel bias reversing 2021 Biden re-entry

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The U.S. announced its withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council on February 28, 2025 (Source: State Department UNHRC Withdrawal Notice).

President Donald Trump cited “chronic anti‐Israel bias” as the primary reason for U.S. withdrawal (Source: White House UNHRC Statement).

The UN Human Rights Council has 47 member states elected for three-year terms; U.S. withdrawal means it no longer holds a vote on Council resolutions (Source: UN Human Rights Council Composition).

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Test Your Knowledge

When did the U.S. announce its withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council?

The UN Human Rights Council can continue operating normally without U.S. membership.

In what year did Biden readmit the U.S. to the Human Rights Council?

How many member countries serve on the UN Human Rights Council?

Which previous administration also withdrew from the UNHRC?

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People, bills, and sources

President Donald Trump

first withdrew the U.S. from the Council in 2018 and again initiated exit in 2025 (Sources

President Joe Biden

readmitted the U.S. to the Human Rights Council in 2021 as part of restoring American leadership in international institutions (Source

What you can do

American NGOs seeking to attend Council sessions can register under the UN NGO Participation Guidelines at https://www.un.org/en/civil-society/page/about-us to secure civil society accreditation (Source: UN NGO Participation Guidelines).

Individuals or organizations can submit complaints under the HRC complaints procedure by following instructions at https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/complaints-procedure (Source: UN Human Rights Office Procedures).

Domestic advocacy groups can maintain international oversight by filing or contributing shadow reports to UN treaty bodies via https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies (Source: International Human Rights Monitoring Systems).