DID Press: US has formally ended its participation in the UN Human Rights Council, as Washington criticized the body for what the U.S. government described as anti-American rhetoric and an overly accommodating approach toward governments accused of human-rights abuses.The move came one day after an independent UN fact-finding mission on Iran reported that there were reasonable grounds to believe U.S. forces were responsible for two military strikes in Iran that amounted to war crimes.
The mission said U.S. forces were responsible for a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, where more than 150 people were killed, including about 120 children, according to Iranian officials. The investigators said the school was a clearly identifiable civilian object and found no evidence that it was being used for military purposes at the time of the attack.
The UN mission also examined a U.S. strike on a sports facility in Lamerd, which it said killed or injured 22 civilians and damaged nearby residential buildings and a school. The investigators concluded that the attack was indiscriminate and constituted a war crime under international law. The U.S. Central Command has previously said that American forces did not conduct a strike in Lamerd on the date examined by the mission.
The UN findings are investigative rather than judicial and do not themselves establish criminal liability. The mission said its conclusions could nevertheless be used in future criminal investigations by national courts or international tribunals.
Washington has criticized the Human Rights Council on broader grounds. The U.S. administration has said the council promotes what it calls “anti-American rhetoric” and has been too accommodating toward governments accused of repressing their populations. The United States previously announced its withdrawal from the council in 2025; it had also withdrawn during Donald Trump’s first administration in 2018 before rejoining under President Joe Biden.
The Human Rights Council is currently holding its 63rd regular session in Geneva, scheduled from September 7 to October 7, 2026.