Amnesty International sharply criticised the United States’ decision to withdraw from dozens of international organisations, conventions and treaties, calling the move a reckless attack on the United Nations and the rules-based global order.
Responding to an announcement by President Donald Trump’s administration that Washington would pull out of 66 international bodies, Amnesty’s senior director for research, advocacy and policy, Erika Guevara Rosas, said the decision undermined decades of global cooperation.
“This is a vindictive and reckless assault on the legitimacy and integrity of the United Nations and the rules-based international order that has been the bedrock of global cooperation for the past 80 years,” she said in a statement.
The Trump administration said the withdrawals affected 31 United Nations agencies and entities, including the UN Population Fund, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and several human rights and development bodies.
Guevara Rosas said the announcement was misleading, arguing that the United States had already disengaged from or defunded many of the organisations listed. She said the move reflected a broader disregard for international law and global commitments on issues such as development, climate change, gender equality and the protection of children.
She cited the withdrawal from the UN Population Fund as particularly damaging, saying the agency played a vital role in combating gender-based violence and supporting millions of women and girls worldwide.
Amnesty also criticised comments by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who cited diversity, equity and inclusion mandates as justification for some of the withdrawals. The group said Washington’s decision to withdraw from the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent amounted to “a deliberate act of racism and institutional sabotage.”
The rights group warned that the US decision to withdraw from climate-related bodies, including the UNFCCC and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, would undermine global efforts to address climate change and could worsen climate-related displacement.
“Withdrawing from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in particular is unprecedented,” Guevara Rosas said, adding that it would leave the United States as the only country outside the agreement.
Amnesty also said the move contradicted Washington’s stated calls for the United Nations to prioritise peace and security, particularly as the Trump administration has proposed a $1.5 trillion military budget and threatened military action against several countries.
The organisation urged UN member states and international institutions to act quickly to defend the multilateral system and international legal frameworks, warning that failure to do so could further endanger human rights globally.
