Niger has rejected key recommendations raised by United Nations member countries during its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) earlier this year, including calls to address arbitrary detention, discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and accountability for serious human rights violations. The UPR is a UN Human Rights Council process in which the human rights records of member states are reviewed by other member countries every five years. Click to expand Image Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani of Niger attends the Alliance of Sahel States second summit on security and development, in Bamako, Mali, December 23, 2025. © 2025 Mali Government Information Center via AP On September 1, Niger’s military junta responded to the 265 recommendations made in May by 97 UN member countries and accepted 254 of them, including commitments to strengthen civilian protection and ensure security forces receive training on international human rights and humanitarian law.The junta however rejected 11 recommendations addressing some of the country’s most pressing rights concerns, including to reverse its June decision to start the withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Leaving the ICC risks depriving victims of grave international crimes a last resort to seek justice and remedies.The junta also rejected calls to release people held arbitrarily, including ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and his wife. The government said their cases fall exclusively under national jurisdiction and denied that anyone is arbitrarily detained. In February 2025, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Bazoum and his wife’s detention was arbitrary and called for their immediate release. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice had reached a similar conclusion in December 2023. Niger also rejected recommendations to repeal the law making consensual same-sex relations a criminal offense and to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, citing “cultural, social, and religious sensitivities.” The rejection is particularly concerning following the junta’s adoption of a new penal code in March criminalizing consensual same-sex relations with up to 10 years’ imprisonment, contrary to its regional and international human rights obligations.These rejections come amid a broader crackdown since the military seized power in 2023. Authorities have severely restricted political activity, curtailed media freedom, and targeted civil society activists, journalists and political opponents. The prominent rights defender Moussa Tiangari has been arbitrarily detained since December 2024.Niger needs to meaningfully engage with UPR recommendations by fully implementing those it accepted and addressing the serious rights concerns raised in those it rejected.