April 23, 2025, Washington, D.C. – A group of five human rights organizations, together with law clinics, have published a new report urging the United Nations to denounce the accelerated disintegration of democracy in the U.S., with a focus on the U.S. government’s increasing criminalization and repression of free speech, dissent, and protest under the guise of “national security”. The report was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, which is scheduled to formally review the United States’ compliance with its human rights obligations in November as part of the Universal Periodic Review process. 

The participating organizations highlighted specific U.S. violations of international human rights law related to the weaponization of the “national security” and “terrorism” frameworks as well as the vast surveillance apparatus used to repress freedom of expression and stifle dissent. The report includes recent examples such as President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and attempted expansion of migrant detentions at Guantánamo; the government’s repeated and rising attacks on civil society as well as lawyers; the ideological targeting of student activists protesting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians; the killing of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán and the domestic terrorism charges filed against Stop Cop City protesters in Georgia; and the illegal surveillance of immigrants and other vulnerable communities. The report includes specific recommendations for each of the violations, and is complemented by a collection of creative appendices, including visual art, poetry, archival images and a letter from detention by imprisoned Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

“The human rights violations described in the report make clear that the U.S. is in an authoritarian political reality where the Trump administration, Congress, and state governments have fully suspended international human rights and are engaging in tactics of repression that are hallmarks of fascist regimes,” said Nadia Ben-Youssef, Advocacy Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “Our hope is that the report sounds the alarm for the international community to act with greater urgency to challenge this administration and its belligerent efforts to dismantle constitutional protections and international norms.”

“This is not a failure by the U.S. government to uphold rights—it is a calculated use of state power to punish political dissent. Through forced disappearances and deportations, pervasive surveillance, and criminal charges, authorities are targeting students and advocates—especially those organizing for Palestinian liberation—as a means of isolating and dismantling a global movement,” said Reem Subei, senior attorney at Muslim Advocates. “These acts violate international law and reinforce a long-standing pattern of racialized repression in the U.S. The UN must recognize this not as a series of isolated incidents, but as a systemic effort to suppress expression, assembly, and solidarity across borders.”

The UN Human Rights Council will meet in Geneva from November 3-14, 2025, for its standard Universal Periodic Review (UPR). During the UPR process, each UN Member State undergoes a peer review of its human rights record and receives recommendations from other member states on compliance. The last United States review was in 2020 under the first Trump administration. 

Participating organizations include the Center for Constitutional Rights; Muslim Advocates; Asian Law Caucus; 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.

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About the Center for Constitutional Rights
The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Follow the Center for Constitutional Rights on Facebook, @theCCR on Twitter/X, and @ccrjustice on Instagram, and @ccrjustice.org on BlueSky.

About Muslim Advocates
Muslim Advocates is a national social-justice, legal-advocacy, and educational organization that works with and for Muslim and other historically marginalized communities to build community power, fight systemic oppression, and demand shared well-being.

About the Asian Law Caucus
The Asian Law Caucus, founded in 1972, is the nation’s first legal and civil rights organization serving low-income, immigrant, and underserved Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The Asian Law Caucus brings together legal services, community empowerment, and policy advocacy to fight for immigrant justice, economic security, and a stronger, multiracial democracy. 

About the International Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law
The International Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, directed by Professor David Kaye, a former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, works with international activists, NGOs and scholars to develop and implement strategies for the protection of freedom of expression and privacy.

About the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law
The Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law undertakes research and advocacy to expose and oppose digital era government and corporate surveillance, with a focus on the impact of such surveillance on historically marginalized communities. The Privacy Center's groundbreaking research includes investigations into police use of facial recognition technology, the dragnet data practices of federal immigration authorities, the mass collection of genetic data by the Department of Homeland Security, and the impact of employer surveillance on workers rights in the United States.

About Community Justice Project
At Community Justice Project we are movement lawyers, researchers and artists supporting grassroots organizing for racial justice and human rights. We work collaboratively with community-based organizations and groups in order to shift power to the people. We are deeply and unapologetically committed to Black and brown communities organizing in Florida.

About Sierra Club - Georgia Chapter
Sierra Club Georgia Chapter is part of Sierra Club, the oldest and largest Environmental Justice Organization in the United States. Its mission is to explore, enjoy and protect the wild places of the earth. In doing so, they foster environmental advocacy and activism to ensure that there is equitable access to clean air, water and recreational spaces.