Washington, D.C.,13 August(HS): The Trump administration has released a dramatically altered version of the U.S. State Department’s annual global human rights report, scaling back scrutiny of allied nations while sharpening its criticism of rivals. The once-comprehensive document, long considered a gold standard for cataloguing global human rights abuses, now omits or downplays sections on corruption, gender-based crimes, and persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals.
Significantly, Israel and El Salvador see softened assessments. The report omits mention of International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over alleged war crimes and dismisses credible human rights abuse claims in El Salvador, despite international condemnation. In contrast, countries like Brazil and South Africa face harsher language, with Brazil singled out for “disproportionate action to undermine freedom of speech.”
The report also accuses close U.S. allies — including the UK, France, and Germany — of backsliding on human rights due to online hate speech laws, echoing the Trump administration’s framing of such regulations as threats to free expression.
Critics, including former senior State Department official Uzra Zeya, denounced the changes as a “gutting” of decades of respected work and an “abandonment of core values,” warning it signals leniency toward governments aligned with the administration.
The report’s release was delayed for months amid internal dissent and followed political directives to shorten sections and omit references to sensitive issues. President Trump has repeatedly criticized “Western interventionism,” stating earlier this year that the U.S. would no longer lecture foreign governments on how to govern.
The rewrite underscores a stark shift in U.S. human rights policy — from a watchdog role to one shaped by strategic alliances and political expediency.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
