The object of the children’s game musical chairs is to find a seat when the music stops. The object of the diplomatic game of “empty chair” is to leave a seat unoccupied to show displeasure with whatever diplomatic game is being played. The United States is now playing the empty-chair game with the United Nations, and the recent Security Council adoption of the U.S. peace plan for Gaza does not change that policy.

Historically, France’s famous “empty chair” policy in 1965 marked a serious setback for the development of the European Union. French President Charles de Gaulle, reluctant to give up French sovereignty to a multilateral organization such as the European Economic Community, refused to send representatives to critical meetings. The United States is showing similar petulant behavior toward the United Nations in its absence from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Peer Review session as well as the U.N.’s climate summit in Brazil.

“You are as others see you,” is not only a principle of social psychology, it also has meaning in international relations. Since 2008, the UNHRC has conducted a formal Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to evaluate how countries uphold human rights. Every four and a half years, different countries are brought before the 47 member Council – members are elected by a majority vote of the U.N. General Assembly. This year it was the United States’ turn to have its human rights record reviewed by its peers.

Guess what? It didn’t show up, making it the first member country to opt out of its own review in the 17 years of the UPR. Other countries have had their reviews postponed, but there has never been a complete withdrawal. The only other country that has missed its UPR session is Israel (in early 2013), but it later participated after a delay.

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