A coalition of five human rights groups, along with clinics for legal advocacy, released a new report calling on the United Nations to condemn the U.S.’s rapid breakdown of democracy, with an emphasis on the U.S. government’s growing criminalisation and suppression of free speech, dissent, and demonstration under the pretext of “national security”.
The report was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, which is set to examine the US’ record formally in November as part of the Universal Periodic Review procedure.
The participating organisations noted particular U.S. breaches of international human rights regulation regarding the exploitation of the “national security” and “terrorism” paradigms and the extensive surveillance machinery employed to suppress freedom of expression and quell criticism.
The report covers recent instances like President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act and bid to expand migrant arrests at Guantánamo; persistent and escalating aggression by the government on civil society as well as attorneys; ideological targeting of student protesters demonstrating against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians; the murder of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán and domestic terrorism accusations brought against Stop Cop City protesters in Georgia; and unlawful surveillance of immigrants and other marginalised groups.
The report contains detailed suggestions for every one of the offences and is accompanied by a series of innovative appendices, such as visual artwork, poetry, historical archive photos and a letter from arrest by jailed Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
“The human rights abuses outlined in the document make unmistakable that America is in an authoritarian political climate where the Trump government, Congress, and state management have discontinued international human rights entirely and are employing repressive methods characteristic of fascist regimes,” stated Nadia Ben-Youssef, Center for Constitutional Rights Advocacy Director. “Our aspiration is that this report rings an alarm bell in the world to act more quickly to hold accountable this government and its bellicose attempt to destroy constitutional safeguards and international norms.”
“This is not a U.S. administration failure to enforce rights—it is a deliberate exercise of state power to repress dissidents. Through deportations and forced expulsions, widespread surveillance, and criminal prosecution, officers are going after students and activists—particularly those mobilising for Palestinian liberation—as a way to isolate and dismantle a worldwide campaign,” Muslim Advocates senior attorney Reem Subei stated. “These actions breach international regulations and perpetuate a long tradition of racialised persecution in the U.S. The UN needs to see this not as a string of discrete happenings but as a concerted attempt to repress expression, congregation, and solidarity across borders.”
The UN Human Rights Council will hold its regular Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva from November 3-14, 2025. Throughout the UPR procedure, each UN Member State is reviewed by its peers based on its record of human rights and accepts member state recommendations about obedience. The previous United States review was done in 2020 under the first Trump government.
Organisations partaking in the litigation are the Center for Constitutional Rights; Asian Law Caucus; Muslim Advocates; International Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law; Community Justice Project; Sierra Club – Georgia Chapter; and the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law.
