State Department human rights report scaled back, omits details on abuses in politically allied countries

CNN

2 days ago

The US State Department on Tuesday released a pared-down version of its annual report meant to catalogue human rights concerns in countries around the world.
The report covers the 2024 calendar year – before the Trump administration took office – and sources told CNN it was largely completed before the US president began his second term. However, it underwent significant revisions in the subsequent months.
There were notable changes between the previous report released April 2024 – covering 2023 – and the one released Tuesday. For some countries like El Salvador whose leaders are political allies of the Trump administration, there was far less criticism and detail about reports of their human rights abuses.
In traditionally allied countries like Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, the latest report alleged a deteriorating human rights situation in 2024, noting that 'significant human rights issues included credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression.' Trump administration officials have lambasted European nations with allegations of free speech backsliding.
Asked about the perception that the State Department watered down reports for countries that work closely with the administration, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, 'obviously, President Trump is someone who has been working with a lot of countries' and said the reports should be viewed 'as an indication of our point of view in general, that there's no country that is singled out for condemnation or singled out for praise.'
Breaking with precedent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not provide a written introduction to the report nor did he make remarks about it.
The latest report was stripped of many of the specific sections included in past reports, including reporting on alleged abuses based on sexual orientation, violence toward women, corruption in government, systemic racial or ethnic violence, or denial of a fair public trial. Some country reports, including for Afghanistan, do address human rights abuses against women.
'We were asked to edit down the human rights reports to the bare minimum of what was statutorily required,' said Michael Honigstein, the former director of African Affairs at the State Department's Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy and Labor. He and his office helped compile the initial reports.
The report itself acknowledges that it was adjusted, saying the country reports 'were streamlined for better utility and accessibility in the field and by partners, and to be more responsive to the underlying legislative mandate and aligned to the administration's executive orders.'
'We minimize the amount of statistical data in the report. In the age of the internet, the underlying data are generally available,' an appendix to the latest report said.
'For purposes of focus and streamlining, the reports select illustrative examples of alleged abuses and in most instances follow up only on high-profile unresolved allegations from previous years,' it said.
A senior State Department official said that 'US policy on promoting respect for human rights around the globe, or in any particular country has not changed.'
The release of the report comes after significant changes were made to the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor – which housed the teams that prepare the annual, congressionally-mandated reports. Many of the staff who worked on the reports, including drafts of the ones released Tuesday, were fired last month. The bureau's focus has been shifted to 'advancing the Administration's affirmative vision of American and Western values.'
The report on El Salvador, where the US deported Venezuelan migrants earlier this year, is much shorter than the one released last year. The latest one claims 'there were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses' in 2024.
However, it notes that 'there were several reports the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings during the year' and that some suspects arrested under suspicion of gang affiliation 'died in prison prior to conviction or completing their sentences.'
The report from the previous year – which was four times as long – describes 'significant human rights.' These included 'credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings; enforced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; extensive gender-based violence, including domestic and sexual violence, and femicide; substantial barriers to sexual and reproductive health services access; trafficking in persons, including forced labor; and crimes involving violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons.'
Asked about the change to the El Salvador report, Bruce said she would not speak 'from country to country' and referred people to the report itself.
The report on Israel includes a far less extensive documentation of reports of human rights abuses, leaving out any reference to 'significant human rights issues,' which is in the 2023 report.
The latest report mentions Hamas and Hezbollah only in a very sparse section about reports of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Last year's report, however, noted allegations of 'extensive and in many cases unprecedented conflict-related abuses' and war crimes committed not only by Hamas, but also Israel, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups.
There is no reference to allegations of torture of Palestinian detainees by Israeli government officials – which were included in the previous year's report, but the report says that the Israel Security Agency and police 'used violent interrogation methods.' There is also no mention of the criminal trial of Prime Minister Netanyahu on charges of bribetaking, fraud and breach of trust, which were ongoing at the time.
The latest country report on Afghanistan is also far shorter than last year's. However, it still describes reports of 'significant human rights issues' and 'widespread disregard for the rule of law and official impunity for those responsible for human rights abuses.'
The report notes a 'significant deterioration in respect for women's rights' in 2024 due to edicts 'effectively removing them from public spaces.'
Despite such findings, the Trump administration sought to end Temporary Protected Status for Afghans in the US, citing 'notable improvements in the security and economic situation' in Afghanistan.
The latest report on Russia, while lengthier than others, was still shorter than the one released last year. It points to the death of Aleksey Navalny in a Russian prison in February 2024, noting the prison is 'known for harsh conditions and alleged torture.' It also cites vast human rights abuses inside Russia, including extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances perpetrated by government authorities. But the report does not include a full section on corruption, which was described as 'widespread throughout the executive branch' in last year's report.
The report also says there were credible reports that some Russian forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity as they continued their invasion of Ukraine.
'Russia's forces and officials committed crimes against humanity, including but not limited to deporting thousands of civilians to Russia, including children. The government operated an extensive system of filtration and detention operations that sometimes included the use of forced labor,' the report says.
Not all of the reports were drastically changed from last year. The latest country report on China is very similar. It notes that genocide and crimes against humanity occurred against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang, the report says. It also concludes that the Chinese government did 'not take credible steps or action to identify or punish officials who committed human rights abuses' in 2024, which mirrors the findings from the previous year's report.
This story has been updated with additional developments.