51品茶

In just one week, President Donald Trump has launched the most systemic and aggressive assault on human rights in U.S. presidential history.

Already, his administration has with the United Nations Human Rights Council 鈥� even though the U.S. is 鈥� the U.S. long supported, against the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, ordered to review ratified U.S. treaties that are the law of the land, and in Gaza.

While the first Trump administration made similar attempts to hinder human rights, including when it withdrew from the Human Rights Council and sanctioned ICC officials , the second Trump administration has been far more drastic, aggressive, and concentrated in its actions. There is no doubt that the larger goal is to dismantle 鈥� or at least severely disrupt 鈥� international human rights and global justice frameworks that have, for decades, protected our collective, universal rights and provided avenues for accountability.

In 2018, partly in response to on extreme poverty in the U.S., the Trump administration decided to pull out of the Human Rights Council, calling it 鈥渃esspool of political bias,鈥� and with other UN human rights experts. However, in 2020, the Trump administration in the Universal Periodic Review (), which scrutinized the United States鈥� human rights record and held it accountable on a global level. The next UPR session is scheduled in November of this year. It remains unclear, and unlikely, that the administration will participate.

In 2020, Trump鈥檚 sanctions against ICC officials were widely condemned and challenged in federal courts, including by the 51品茶. A federal court blocked the government from enforcing the order against academics and scholars, who challenged its unconstitutionality on First Amendment grounds. President Joe Biden eventually in 2021. This year, however, shortly after taking office, Trump issued an again targeting the ICC with new sanctions. The new executive order is an affront to international global justice and raises serious First Amendment concerns because it creates a serious chilling effect on people in the United States for among other things helping the court identify and investigate atrocities that fall within its jurisdiction.

Seventy-nine countries defending the Court and warning that 鈥渟uch measures increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law, which is crucial for promoting global order and security.鈥� Earlier this week, 17 independent UN human rights experts released a expressing grave concern over Trump鈥檚 new executive order calling it 鈥渁n attack on global rule of law and strikes at the very heart of the international criminal justice system.鈥�

The Trump administration鈥檚 efforts are part of a broader anti-rights agenda that organizations like the Heritage Foundation 鈥� the mastermind behind Project 2025 鈥� promote as a way to weaken international human rights and entrench the use of national security and sovereignty as pretexts to evade accountability for gross violations of these rights. For example, the Trump administration previously established the , which attempted to redefine and weaken international human rights through a new hierarchy of rights that would elevate religion and property over basic human rights. More recently, the Heritage Foundation echoing this stance, citing former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo鈥檚 60-page in its call to roll back decades of progress in international human rights law.

The new Trump administration鈥檚 actions, however, are notably more audacious and dangerous because they aim to unilaterally undermine ratified human rights treaties that, according to our Constitution, are the law of the land. For instance, Trump鈥檚 earlier this month calls for a 鈥渞eview of all international intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member and provides any type of funding or other support, and all conventions and treaties to which the United States is a party.鈥� This order seeks to determine which organizations, conventions, and treaties are contrary to U.S. interests and whether such organizations, conventions, or treaties can be reformed. The review also requires recommendations regarding whether the U.S. should withdraw from any such organizations, conventions, or treaties. Trump鈥檚 review of these international organizations and agreements may lead to defunding critical human rights mechanisms 鈥� including the , the , and that effectively monitor and investigate human rights violations worldwide 鈥� that have been cornerstones of the modern human rights system.

Importantly, the United States has only ratified three treaties out of that have been negotiated and adopted since World War II. The treaties that were ratified in the early 1990s 鈥� the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (); the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (); and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination () 鈥� were subject to from the Senate. These reservations, and an ever increasing anti-human rights agenda, meant that the treaties have never been incorporated through legislation, rendering them significantly less impactful and enforceable domestically.

Now, the second Trump administration is ordering a review that would further weaken these treaties and decimate our nation鈥檚 human rights obligations. Civil society organizations and experts have also cautioned that these increasing attacks against both domestic and international human rights will embolden global authoritarianism and make the world less safe, especially for historically -marginalized communities.

This week, 16 former and current American UN experts criticizing the Trump administration鈥檚 executive orders, stating, 鈥淸this] assault on the rule of law fails to advance any conceivable American national interest, which lies in a worldwide system founded on principles of human rights, the non-use of force, collaboration to solve global problems, and the sovereign equality of states. The administration鈥檚 actions betray each of these well-established international principles.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 attacks against international human rights bodies mirror the regressive, despotic measures taken against and , especially those who have been involved in acting as or . These anti-human rights orders aim to significantly weaken accountability for violating international law, neutralize opposition to his dangerous agenda, and potentially usurp congressional powers.

Trump鈥檚 efforts to erode our universal human rights must be stopped. Weakening domestic and international human rights and justice will only cause severe harms, instability, and more violence at home and globally.