UN Summit Faces Showdown Over Global Justice

World leaders gather in New York from September 22 to 28, 2026, for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Human Rights Watch urges them to defend human rights and stand against attempts to weaken justice for grave international crimes. Dozens of leaders and foreign ministers from the UN's 193 member countries will attend. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks first on September 22, followed by US President Donald Trump. The leaders of Türkiye, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan will also speak that day. "The UN and other international organizations created to protect human rights are under attack from countries that had pledged to defend them," said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch. He called on all member countries to condemn attempts by the United States, Russia, China, and others to dismantle the international human rights system. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will speak by video for the second year in a row. The US refused to grant him and other Palestinian officials visas to travel to UN headquarters. Key issues on the agenda include the global impact of the US and Israel's war with Iran, Israeli abuses against Palestinians in Gaza and settler violence in the West Bank, Russian violations of the laws of war in Ukraine, and risks from artificial intelligence and climate change. Human Rights Watch also called for accountability for atrocities in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Haiti, and Afghanistan. The US has announced a campaign to "dismantle" the International Criminal Court (ICC), which prosecutes war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. In 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes in Gaza. It has also issued warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior Russian officials over Ukraine. The US campaign includes punitive sanctions against ICC officials, judges, three Palestinian human rights groups, and a UN expert. Human Rights Watch says this threatens victims' access to justice worldwide. The group has sued the Trump administration in US federal court over the sanctions. Countries should also resist efforts to undermine the rights of refugees and migrants, women and girls, and LGBT people, Human Rights Watch said. They should defend protections for equality and fight attempts to remove gender equality norms from UN mandates. The UN faces a liquidity crisis, largely because the US has refused to pay its full dues and canceled most voluntary contributions. The US recently paid $800 million of the roughly $4 billion it owes. China has also worsened the crisis by paying late. Together, the two countries account for nearly half of the UN's regular and peacekeeping budgets. The Security Council is holding informal polls to choose a successor to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on December 31. Human Rights Watch said the next UN chief should prioritize human rights and press governments to pay their dues on time. Countries will soon negotiate a new treaty to prevent and punish crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, rape, enforced disappearance, and apartheid. Human Rights Watch urged member countries to support the effort. "World leaders should use the UN podium to speak out forcefully against efforts by some major powers to trample on human rights and make it easier to get away with atrocities and other grave crimes," Charbonneau said. "The UN and the international human rights system can only survive the current assault if governments take urgent and strong action to defend them."