{"id":313919,"date":"2026-03-09T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=313919"},"modified":"2026-03-05T08:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T08:26:07","slug":"trumps-orwellian-board-of-peace-consists-entirely-of-human-rights-abusers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/03\/trumps-orwellian-board-of-peace-consists-entirely-of-human-rights-abusers\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Orwellian Board of Peace Consists Entirely of Human Rights Abusers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Donald Trump stands with other world leaders before a Board of Peace meeting at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Feb. 19, 2026, in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 Photo: Mark Schiefelbein\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

An Intercept analysis finds that every single Board of Peace member state has been rebuked for human rights violations. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2 Mar 2026\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0At the inaugural<\/span> meeting of his self-styled Board of Peace earlier this month, Donald Trump declared peace in the Middle East while simultaneously threatening<\/a> to plunge the region into devastating conflict by again attacking Iran. Within 10 days, Trump followed through on that promise<\/a>, teaming up with Israel to unleash a widespread campaign of deadly airstrikes in Iran that have thrust the Middle East into regional war.<\/p>\n

It was one of numerous incongruities that surfaced during the bizarre first meeting of Trump\u2019s Temu United Nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of prestige, there\u2019s never been anything close because these are the greatest world leaders, almost everybody has accepted, and the ones that haven\u2019t will,\u201d Trump proclaimed<\/a> before he grasped a diminutive gold-colored mallet and gaveled out the conclave to strains of the Village People\u2019s \u201cY.M.C.A.\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a member of the group\u2019s executive board, could be seen standing alone in the background as Trump glad-handed some of the assembled world leaders. Rubio skulked off before Laura Branigan\u2019s 1982 hit \u201cGloria\u201d began to play.<\/p>\n

An Intercept analysis finds that every member state of the Board of Peace has been rebuked for human rights violations, including many by Rubio\u2019s own State Department. Those not currently on the State Department list after a 2025 whitewash<\/a> of countries\u2019 human rights reports<\/a> shielding Trump\u2019s allies from honest assessments were previously cited by the department.<\/p>\n

Originally conceived as a means to oversee the shaky Gaza\u00a0peace plan<\/a>, Trump has recast the Board of Peace as an international body under his control and direction, ostensively devoted to ending or preventing wars. \u201cWe\u2019re also going to maybe take it a step further where we see hot spots around the world,\u201d Trump decreed. \u201cWe will help Gaza, we will straighten it out, we\u2019ll make it successful, we will make it peaceful, and we will do things like that in other spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump even suggested his group would provide oversight of the U.N. \u201cThe Board of Peace is going to almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

As chair of the Board of Peace, with a lifetime appointment<\/a>, Trump determines the council\u2019s membership, chooses the executive board, and has the final say on all things since \u201cdecisions shall be made by a majority of the Member States present and voting, subject to the approval of the Chairman,\u201d according to the Board\u2019s charter<\/a>.\u00a0As chair, Trump is also the \u201cfinal authority regarding the meaning, interpretation, and application\u201d of the charter.\u00a0Any amendments to the charter also must have Trump\u2019s stamp of approval.<\/p>\n

Trump controls the Board\u2019s\u00a0finances<\/a> as chair, creating what looks to be a slush fund of international proportions. A $1 billion<\/a> contribution secures permanent membership on the Board instead of a three-year appointment, which requires no payment. Trump said he also exacted promises of more than $7 billion from nine countries, although Board of Peace documents show only eight countries formally signed a pledge<\/a> of their \u201cintention to contribute funds to the Board of Peace.\u201d For his part, Trump promised to siphon U.S. tax dollars \u2014 at least $10 billion<\/a> \u2014 into the Board\u2019s coffers. The Board of Peace, in turn, announced<\/a> \u201cmore than $15 billion in funding commitments\u201d for \u201chumanitarian relief and reconstruction activities\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The Board\u2019s charter states that it can acquire and dispose of \u201cimmovable and movable property, institute legal proceedings, open bank accounts, receive and disburse private and public funds, and employ staff.\u201d As chair, Trump has \u201cexclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities as necessary or appropriate to fulfill the Board of Peace\u2019s mission.\u201d It remains unclear how all of the Boards\u2019 funds will be spent and if there will be any meaningful supervision of the Board\u2019s finances.\u00a0The executive board \u2014 which Trump chooses and controls \u2014 provides \u201coversight mechanisms with respect to budgets, financial accounts, and disbursements,\u201d according to the charter.<\/p>\n

The Board says<\/a> that the World Bank-administered Gaza Reconstruction and Development Fund \u201cwill operate under defined fiduciary controls, aligned with global best practices\u201d and that an \u201cAI-enabled digital infrastructure backbone will support procurement transparency and transform Gaza into a modern economy, reducing corruption risk and ensuring responsible stewardship of reconstruction capital for the benefit of Gaza\u2019s residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditional U.S. allies like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine have all\u00a0declined<\/a> to join the Board of Peace. But the U.K., Italy, the European Union and 20 other nations<\/a> did attend the inaugural Board of Peace meeting as observers.<\/p>\n

In addition to Trump, Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, Trump son-in-law and diplomatic consiglieri Jared Kushner, and Kushner\u2019s negotiating partner and Trump friend Steve Witkoff, numerous world leaders joined the inaugural meeting as their countries\u2019 Board representatives. They included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/a> and Argentine President Javier Milei<\/a>, both staunch Trump allies and noted authoritarians. They and other leaders were gifted red MAGA-style hats<\/a> emblazoned with \u201cUSA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said<\/a> other \u201cgreat boards\u201d were \u201cpeanuts\u201d because unlike other governing bodies, almost all members of his Peace Board were \u201cthe head of a country.\u201d\u00a0While the executive board \u2014 which includes Trump, Rubio, Kushner, and Witkoff, among others \u2014 is made up of individuals, the Board of Peace itself is made up of member states. They constitute a veritable who\u2019s who of global bad actors.<\/p>\n

Longtime U.S. adversaries Russia and China, both consistent gross human rights abusers, have been invited to join. While those powers have yet to sign on, there are currently 28 members of the Board of Peace, according to its new website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Member Nation<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nName<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Albania<\/td>\nPrime Minister<\/td>\nEdi Rama<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Argentina<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nJavier Milei<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Armenia<\/td>\nPrime Minister<\/td>\nNikol Pashinyan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Azerbaijan<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nIlham Aliyev<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bahrain<\/td>\nKing<\/td>\nHamad bin Isa Al Khalifa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Belarus<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nAlyaksandr Lukashenka<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bulgaria<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nIliana Iotova<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cambodia<\/td>\nPrime Minister<\/td>\nHun Manet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Egypt<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nAbdel Fattah el-Sisi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
El Salvador<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nNayib Bukele<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hungary<\/td>\nPrime Minister<\/td>\nViktor Orb\u00e1n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indonesia<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nPrabowo Subianto<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Israel<\/td>\nPrime Minister<\/td>\nBenjamin Netanyahu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jordan<\/td>\nKing<\/td>\nAbdullah II<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kazakhstan<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nKassym-Jomart Tokayev<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kosovo<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nVjosa Osmani<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kuwait<\/td>\nAmir<\/td>\nMeshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mongolia<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nKhurelsukh Ukhnaa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Morocco<\/td>\nPrime Minister<\/td>\nAziz Akhannouch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pakistan<\/td>\nPrime Minister<\/td>\nShehbaz Sharif<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Paraguay<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nSantiago Pe\u00f1a<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Qatar<\/td>\nAmir<\/td>\nTamim bin Hamad Al Thani<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saudi Arabia<\/td>\nCrown Prince
\nand Prime Minister<\/td>\n		Mohammed bin Salman<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Turkey<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nRecep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
United Arab
\nEmirates<\/td>\n		President<\/td>\nMohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
United States<\/td>\nPresident (Chair)<\/td>\nDonald J. Trump<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Uzbekistan<\/td>\nPresident<\/td>\nShavkat Mirziyoyev<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vietnam<\/td>\nGeneral Secretary<\/td>\nT\u00f4 L\u00e2m<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>
Source: boardofpeace.org\/heads-of-state\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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All member states have been cited for human rights abuses in the State Department\u2019s two most recent annual human rights reports, including for some of the gravest possible violations.<\/p>\n

Last year, Rubio\u2019s State Department issued sanitized human rights reports<\/a> that soft-peddled abuses. But the analyses still cited allegations that 23 of the 27 foreign Board of Peace member states for arguably the worst crimes: unlawful or arbitrary killings or torture. Including the last Biden-era reports, the number rises to 25. Members of Trump\u2019s Board are, in fact, among the worst human rights violators on the planet, chief among them Belarus, Israel<\/a>, and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The State Department and White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.\u00a0The Board of Peace did not reply to a request on X for public affairs\u2019 contact information.<\/p>\n

A report issued<\/a> last summer by Rubio\u2019s State Department took the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to task for \u201csignificant human rights issues\u201d including credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings; disappearances; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; and arbitrary arrest and detention; among many other violations. \u201cThe government did not take credible steps or action to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses in a verifiable way,\u201d according to that report.<\/p>\n

Even Rubio\u2019s State Department referenced reports<\/a> that Israel conducted\u00a0\u201carbitrary or unlawful killings\u201d as well as \u201cserious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom.\u201d\u00a0A United Nations commission investigating the war in Gaza<\/a> went further and established that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians. \u201cIt is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention,\u201d said Navi Pillay<\/a>, the chair of the commission, last September.\u00a0\u201cThe responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belarus is another wildly oppressive Board of Peace member-nation. Freedom House<\/a> \u2014 a nongovernmental organization that advocates for human rights and gets the bulk of its\u00a0funding<\/a>\u00a0from the U.S. government \u2014 calls that country<\/a> \u201can authoritarian state in which elections are openly rigged and civil liberties are severely restricted.\u201d The group noted that the Eastern European nation\u2019s security forces \u201chave violently assaulted and arbitrarily detained journalists and ordinary citizens who challenge Alyaksandr Lukashenka\u2019s regime.\u201d Last year, the State Department also called out<\/a> Belarus for a raft of abuses including \u201ctorture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; involuntary or coercive medical or psychological practices; [and] arbitrary arrest or detention.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWar is peace\u201d was one of the slogans on the facade of the Ministry of Truth,\u00a0in George Orwell\u2019s dystopian novel\u00a0\u201c1984.\u201d Trump\u2019s Board of Peace exemplifies\u00a0this same Orwellian doublethink in which contradictory ideas are cast as true. Israel\u2019s and Belarus\u2019s inclusion on the Board, for example, puts a spotlight on the startling disconnect between Trump\u2019s league of rogue nations and its stated purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is very simple. Peace. It\u2019s called the Board of Peace and it\u2019s all about an easy word to say, but a hard word to produce \u2014 peace, but we\u2019re going to produce it,\u201d said Trump<\/a> at the February 19 meeting. But the Peace Board is filled with warmakers called out even by Rubio\u2019s State Department. For instance, it accused Belarus<\/a> of crimes of war including \u201cserious abuses in a conflict, related to Belarus\u2019 complicity in Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine\u201d; Indonesia<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0\u201carbitrary or unlawful killings\u201d in \u201ccounterinsurgency operations against armed separatist groups\u201d; Israel<\/a> for \u201ccontinued large-scale military operation in densely populated Gaza\u201d; Pakistan<\/a> for \u201cserious abuses in a conflict\u201d; and Turkey<\/a> for \u201cunlawful recruitment or use of children in armed conflict by government-supported armed groups outside of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe have peace in the Middle East right now.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The greatest offender to peace on the Board, however, be the United States. While Trump said \u201cthere\u2019s nothing more important than peace\u201d at the inaugural meeting, during his second term he has already launched attacks on\u00a0Iraq<\/a>,\u00a0Nigeria<\/a>,\u00a0Somalia<\/a>,\u00a0Syria<\/a>, Venezuela<\/a>,\u00a0Yemen<\/a>, civilians in boats<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Caribbean\u00a0Sea and Pacific Ocean \u2014 and, over the weekend, Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration also claims to be at war with at least\u00a024 cartels and criminal gangs\u00a0it will not name<\/a> and has also threatened\u00a0Colombia<\/a>, Cuba,\u00a0Greenland<\/a>,\u00a0Iceland<\/a>, and Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have peace in the Middle East right now,\u201d Trump declared in his rambling speech, during which he also threatened to again attack Iran to knock out a nuclear program that he said had already been \u201ctotally decimated.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2025 survey of 25 nations around the world found that the publics in 17 of them saw the United States as the first or second greatest international threat<\/a> to their country, including America\u2019s neighbors, Canada (59 percent) and Mexico (68 percent). Just this month, a poll by the Allensbach Institute, a market research firm, found Germans see the U.S. as the second-greatest threat to world peace<\/a>, surpassing China and edging closer to Russia.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Nick Turse is a senior reporter for <\/em>The Intercept, reporting on national security and foreign policy. He is the author, most recently, of <\/em>Next Time They\u2019ll Come to Count the Dead: War and Survival in South Sudan and the <\/em>New York Times bestseller <\/em>Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam. He has written for the <\/em>New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and<\/em> Harpers, among other publications; has received a Ridenhour Prize for investigative reporting, a Military Reporters & Editors Association Award for Best Overseas Coverage, and a Deadline Club Award for Reporting by Independent Digital Media. Turse is also a fellow at the Type Media Center.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theintercept.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 Mar 2026\u00a0–\u00a0An Intercept analysis finds that every single Board of Peace member state has been rebuked for human rights violations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":123361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[224],"tags":[3843,487,3924,249],"class_list":["post-313919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-board-of-peace","tag-human-rights","tag-peace-hoax","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313924,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313919\/revisions\/313924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}