US to ease human rights criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia, Washington Post says
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration plans to scale back criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia over human rights, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing drafts of the State Department's annual human rights report.
The draft reports related to those countries were significantly shorter than the ones prepared by the administration of Democratic former President Joe Biden, who left office in January, following Republican Donald Trump's November 2024 election win.
The State Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has not yet officially released this year's report, which covers last year's incidents.
A senior State Department official in a briefing with reporters declined to provide specific details about the contents of the report but said it had been restructured in a way that "removes redundancies, increases report readability".
The United States has traditionally viewed the promotion of human rights and democracy as well as press freedom as core foreign policy objectives, although critics have repeatedly pointed out the double standard Washington has had towards its allies.
Under Trump, the administration has increasingly moved away from the traditional promotion of democracy and human rights, largely seeing it as interference in another country's affairs.
Instead, Trump officials have interfered in other ways, repeatedly weighing in on European politics to denounce what they see as suppression of right-wing leaders, including in Romania, Germany and France, and accusing European authorities of censoring views such as criticism of immigration.
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On El Salvador, the draft State Department report states that it had "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses" in 2024, the Post said.
The previous report published under the Biden administration said there were "significant human rights issues" there including credible reports of "degrading treatment or punishment by security forces" and "harsh and life-threatening prison conditions."
The Trump administration has deported people to El Salvador with help from the government of President Nayib Bukele, whose country is receiving $6 million from the U.S. to house the migrants in a high-security mega-prison.
ISRAEL
The draft report makes no mention of corruption or threats to the independence of Israel's judiciary, the Post reported. The previous report mentioned isolated reports of government corruption and cited the criminal case of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust - all of which he denies.
Previous references to Israeli surveillance of Palestinians and restrictions of their movements were also not addressed in the draft report, the newspaper said.
The final report on Russia issued under the Biden State Department made several references to violence and harassment faced by LGBTQI+ people in Russia.
The Washington Post said the draft report removed all references to LGBTQ+ individuals or crimes against them, and descriptions of government abuses that remained had been softened.
The embassies of El Salvador, Israel and Russia in Washington did not immediately respond to separate emailed requests for comment.
The Trump administration has moved to reshape the State Department's human rights bureau, which it said had become a platform for "left-wing activists to wage vendettas against 'anti-woke' leaders."
Usually, the annual report is released around March or April each year but has been delayed this year. The State Department official said the report would be released "in the very near future."
"The report is not meant to be every single human rights abuse that's happened in every single country. It's meant to be illustrative and a broad picture of what the conditions of human rights are on the ground in each country," the official said. REUTERS
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