The State Department under Marco Rubio seems to think little of human rights and seeks to change the term’s definition.
NPR reports that the department will no longer include criticisms of poor prison conditions, government corruption, or political processes that are restrictive, in its reports on international human rights. That means government repression, such as restricting peaceful assembly or preventing free and fair elections, will no longer be documented by the agency.
The news outlet cited an editing memo and other documents showing that department employees have been ordered to “streamline” the reports to meet the minimum legal requirements. State Department reports are required by law to be a “full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights” for every country.
The reports are usually released every year in March or April, and 2024’s reports were completed this year in January but are now being re-edited by the Trump administration, delaying them until May, sources in the department told NPR. Last month, Politico reported that references to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, would be removed from the reports.
Some of the changes appear to reflect the Trump administration’s foreign relationships. For example, the report on El Salvador had its section on prison conditions erased, raising questions as to whether the administration’s deal with the country to send undocumented immigrants to Salvadoran prisons, which are accused of flagrant human rights abuses, had something to do with it.
The report on Hungary, whose President Viktor Orbán enjoys high esteem from President Trump and many leading conservatives, had its section on “Corruption in Government” crossed out. Orbán has restricted press freedoms and civil liberties in the country. Experts say that the changes to the reports will undermine the State Department’s credibility.
“You can’t overstate the value in the real world of the annual State Department human rights reports being credible and impartial,” said Christopher Le Mon, who worked in the agency’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor until January.
“You also can’t overstate the damage it will do to that credibility if the Trump administration’s edits are seen to diminish—not just the scope of what are defined as human rights, but also if those edits are seen to play favorites,” Le Mon added.
The Trump administration has already been disregarding human rights here in the U.S., whether it’s the lack of due process in its mass deportation efforts, its use of El Salvador’s questionable prisons to house deported immigrants (or possibly soon U.S. citizens), its use of masked, plainclothes officers to grab people off the street, its restrictions on the press, or its attacks on academic freedom or many other actions. Maybe the administration is realizing it can’t speak credibly when it comes to basic rights and freedoms.