State Department Pares Down Criticism of Trump-Allied Countries in Human Rights Report

The State Department on Tuesday released a pared-down version of its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, dramatically minimizing the reports of abuses in countries allied with President Donald Trump.

“The human rights report has been restructured in a way that removes redundancy, increases report readability and is responsive to the legislative mandates that underpin the report, rather than an expansive list of politically biased demands and assertions ,” Tammy Bruce, a spokesperson for the State Department, said in a video posted to social media.

The agency’s 2024 human rights report does not include an introduction from Secretary of State Marco Rubio but rather includes a note acknowledging the report was “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.”

“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,” the report reads.

The latest report is missing several 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 fair public trials.

Some country reports, including for Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, do address human rights abuses and sexual violence against women.

Rubio, who outlets suggested was interested in eliminating the human rights report altogether, did not make remarks after the document was published Tuesday evening. The State Department did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.

Rep. Mark Takano, the chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, criticized the report on X for failing to mention violence against LBGTQ+ people, saying it “doesn’t erase the abuse, violence, and criminalization our community is facing around the world — it condones it.”

An analysis from NPR of the documents found that this year’s report is about one-third the length of last year’s. The section on El Salvador, home of the notorious mega-prison where the Trump administration deported Venezuelan migrants, is more than 75% shorter.

El Salvador’s report drops references to poor prison conditions, claiming in the executive summary, “There were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses.”

The report on Hungary includes a similar statement, and is missing extensive documentation of government corruption.

China’s report is missing violations of the freedom to peacefully assemble, but does note reports of genocide against “Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.” Trump signed an executive order this week to temporarily delay the implementation of tariffs on Chinese goods, again, by 90 days.

The report on Israel includes a far less extensive documentation of reports of human rights abuses than in previous years. There is no reference to “significant human rights issues” language that is in the 2023 report.

It also lacks references to the criminal trial against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and of allegations of torture of Palestinian detainees by the Israeli government that was mentioned in last year’s report.

The report on Russia, which comes days before Trump’s expected summit in Alaska on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is more than 40 pages long and is missing a section from last year’s report detailing “widespread” government corruption. The report does cite human rights abuses across the country and “enforced disappearances perpetrated by or on behalf of government authorities.”

“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 reads.