We, the undersigned, are writing in response to the Executive Order titled “Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States.” The US’s withdrawal from 66 international organizations, conventions, and treaties, including 31 United Nations entities, is incredibly troubling and comes as tensions around the world are already heightened, and multilateralism needs to be reinforced and supported, not repudiated. These withdrawals follow several already commenced or finalized, including from UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Council and its Universal Periodic Review Mechanism, the World Health Organization, and the Paris Climate Accords, among others.

Notwithstanding the questionable legality of withdrawing from Senate-ratified treaties like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the confusing practicalities of disengaging from statutory components of the UN, such as UN DESA, ECOSOC, and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, these moves do not only undermine multilateralism, but also US interests.

For example, leaving the International Law Commission does not undermine the existence of international law but means the US cannot help to shape it. Similarly, abandoning the Freedom Online Coalition and International IDEA forfeits US leadership on democracy and digital rights, allowing repressive regimes to rewrite the rules of global communication. The consequences of climate change are inherently a global problem, and will be felt in the US, whether or not it is a party to the UNFCCC or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. By withdrawing from the UN Register of Conventional Arms, the US signals to the world that transparency is obsolete, encouraging illicit arms flows that will ultimately endanger Americans.

Furthermore, the accompanying press release from Secretary Rubio, which chastises the so-called “multilateral ‘NGO-plex,’” is a dangerous attack on civil society. Rhetoric that baselessly demonizes nonpartisan, nonprofit, and nongovernmental organizations, coupled with the dismantling of the architecture that supports human rights defenders, endangers those working to advance democracy worldwide. The US has opened the door for further repression, and the vacuum it will create by withdrawing from multilateral institutions will doubtlessly be filled by malign actors. There is no shortage of states which will be pleased to see the US withdrawal, seizing it as an opportunity to influence international institutions in ways which serve their national interests alone.

Accompanied by President Trump’s calls for the US military budget to be raised to $1.5 trillion on January 8, 2026, and recent actions by the US beyond its borders, including in Venezuela and Nigeria, and threats against Denmark and Greenland, Mexico, Cuba, and Colombia, this continued withdrawal from multilateral institutions demonstrates the administration’s intent to pursue a “might is right” approach to the detriment of global stability, the degradation of US leadership, and the great expense of US citizens.

Fundamentally, the US has helped to shape the international multilateral order, and within that it has always seen its interest reflected within those institutions and served by those institutions. In an increasingly interconnected world, a nation that chooses isolationism over internationalism threatens its own prosperity. As the US turns its back on these international organizations and commitments, it diminishes its own standing and leaves the world a more dangerous place.

This is not the death knell for multilateralism unless we let it be. It is incumbent on all states – including the US – to uphold the letter and spirit of the UN Charter, which was forged from the ashes of the Second World War, and to recommit to a pluralistic, meaningful, inclusive, and accessible international order, which serves the interests of all humanity, in every state around the world, not just the powerful.

We call on the President and Secretary to reverse this decision, and to engage with rather than retreat from the international community, of which the US will always be a part.

Signed, in alphabetical order,

Aditus Foundation
Alliance of Humanists, Atheists and Agnostics Luxembourg
American Atheists
American Ethical Union
American Humanist Association
Asociatia Secular-Umanista din Romania
Associação Republica e Laicidade
Atheists United
Black Nonbelievers
British Columbia Humanist Association
Burmese Atheists
Capital District Humanist Society
Central London Humanists
Centre d’Action Laïque
Children’s Spaces
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Corporación Bogotana para el Avance de la Razón y Laicismo
Coventry and Warwickshire Humanists
Czech Humanists
Disability Action
Environmental Smart
ETHOS
European Humanist Services Network
Finnish Humanist Association
Freedom From Religion Foundation
Four Freedoms Forum
Freethought Society
Greater Manchester Humanists
Greek Helsinki Monitor
HALEA
Hawaii Institute for Human Rights
Hispanic American Freethinkers
Humanist Association Netherlands
Humanist Association of Germany
Humanist Association of Ghana
Humanist Union of Greece
Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix
Humanist Society Scotland
Humanistische Vereinigung
Humanists Iceland
Humanists International
Humanists Malawi
Humanists Malaysia
Humanists Malta
Humanists Mutual Aid
Humanists Ottawa
Humanists UK
Hungarian Atheist Association
Index on Censorship
Kenya Humanist Alliance
New Enlightenment Project (Canada)
New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists
Norwegian Humanist Association
Ontario Humanist Society
Peruvian Association of Atheists
Race Equality First
Recovering from Religion
Rocky Mountain Atheist Society
Secular Coalition for America
Secular Student Alliance
Shropshire Humanists
Society for Humanistic Judaism
Uganda Humanist Association
Umbrella Association of Free Worldview Congregations
Watford Humanists
Welsh Refugee Council

Additional Signatories:

Giordano Bruno Stiftung, Regional Group Austria
Humanist Society México
Humanistas Brasil
Humanistische Akademie Österreich
Humanistischer Verband Österreich
Humanesia, Humanists Indonesia
Humanists Australia
HSP
Leicester Secular Society
Prometheus Society of Slovakia
The International Association for Religious Freedom