Petition asks UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to declare U.S. public sex offender registration a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — November 6, 2026 — A petition launched by the Florida Action Committee, Inc. (FAC) asking the United Nations to examine public sex offender registration in the United States has surpassed 10,000 verified signatures on Change.org.
FAC, a non-profit public safety organization with more than 3,700 members asks the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva to investigate the registry and take appropriate action.
A human rights question
The petition rests on Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which prohibit cruel or degrading treatment or punishment. FAC argues that placing people on a public list for life, when research shows the list does not prevent sexual offending, meets that definition.
About one million people in the United States are required to register. In Florida, registration is lifelong. Names, photographs, and home addresses are posted on a state website indexed by search engines. People remain on Florida’s site after they leave the state, leave the country, or die. More than half of the people on Florida's registry do not live in Florida.
Harm without a safety benefit
Public registration is linked to lost employment, lost housing, social isolation, and vigilante violence. These effects extend to employers, spouses, children, and other family members.
A 2021 meta-analysis by Kristen Zgoba and Meghan Mitchell, published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, reviewed 25 years of research. It found that registration and notification do not reduce sexual or non-sexual reoffending.
“Ten thousand people have looked at the evidence and agree that a lifetime of public shaming that doesn’t make anyone safer is not public safety, it’s cruelty,” said Teresa Bond, Spokesperson for Florida Action Committee.
How to support the petition
The petition remains open for signatures at https://www.change.org/p/public-sex-offender-registration-is-violation-of-universal-declaration-of-human-rights.
About the Florida Action Committee
The Florida Action Committee, Inc. is a non-profit public safety organization with more than 3,700 members that advocates for the rights of all persons, including people required to register as sexual offenders. FAC works for evidence-based policies that protect public safety while respecting constitutional and human rights. FAC has recently filed a federal lawsuit against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and dozens of municipalities. Learn more at floridaactioncommittee.org.
Media Contact
Communications Director
Florida Action Committee
+1 833-273-7325
media@floridaactioncommittee.org
