The Trump Administration’s sweeping executive order to withdraw the United States from dozens of United Nations bodies and international organisations, as well as a treaty ratified by the United States with the advice and consent of the US Senate, is a targeted assault on multilateralism, international law, and global institutions critical to safeguarding human rights, peace, and climate justice, the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has said.
This move, for which the CIEL says the constitutionality and legal effect are questionable, was announced under the guise of protecting US interests. But CIEL insists that it does exactly the opposite.
It submits that, by divesting from global cooperation on the environment, human rights, democracy, and peace, the U.S. puts its own future, and that of the planet, at greater risk.
According to the group, the Executive Order represents a deliberate effort to dismantle the international infrastructure designed to uphold dignity, protect children, improve gender and racial equality, advance sustainable development, preserve the oceans, and confront the climate crisis.
“It undermines bodies that safeguard the global commons and ensure basic protections for marginalised people and those in vulnerable situations around the world, including refugees, women, children, people of African descent, and many others,” CIEL submitted.
Rebecca Brown, President and CEO of the CIEL, said: “This executive order is not just a policy shift – it is a direct assault on the multilateral system that has helped prevent conflict, advance human rights, and protect the global commons for nearly 80 years. At a time when rising seas, record heat, and deadly disasters demand urgent, coordinated action, the U.S. government is choosing to retreat.
The decision to defund and withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) does not absolve the US of its legal obligations to prevent climate change and remedy climate harm, as the world’s highest court made clear last year. This action is simply a continuation of this Administration’s efforts to prioritise corporate interests over people and planet and flout the rule of law.
“Withdrawing from institutions designed to support global climate action does not change the stark reality of the climate crisis, rebut the irrefutable evidence of its causes, or eliminate the U.S.’s clear responsibility for its consequences. Withdrawal only serves to further isolate the U.S. to the detriment of its own population and billions around the world.”