'Quietly and Unnoticed,' Trump Administration Won't Cooperate with UN Investigators on Human Rights Violations in US

Displaying what one United Nations human rights expert called “arrogance” considering international outcry over the Trump administration’s record of human rights violations, the State Department has refused to cooperate with U.N. investigators regarding their complaints about such issues for the better part of a year.

As the Guardian reported Friday, the administration has “quietly and unnoticed” left unanswered at least 13 official requests from U.N. special rapporteurs on human rights since last May. The failure to respond began a month before Philip Alston, special rapporteur on extreme poverty, issued a scathing report detailing “devastating inequality” in the U.S., made worse by the policies of President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers.

As Alston said, the administration’s refusal to answer questions and cooperate not only leaves issues including inequality and the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers unaddressed in the U.S., but also sends a harmful message to other human rights abusers leading countries around the world.