The US State Department on Tuesday released its annual human rights reports for nearly 200 nations, but the 2024 edition is shorter, less detailed, and stripped of key language present in prior years. Sections on countries viewed as close to the Trump administration — including El Salvador, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel — have been scaled back or had descriptions of persistent abuses removed entirely. The omissions mark another turn in the administration’s departure from the practice of spotlighting rights violations, the New York Times reported.
Changes in focus and tone
The reports also drop numerous references to violations of women’s and LGBTQ rights in multiple countries. Instead, they highlight alleged infringements on conservative or right-wing groups, such as a Brazil entry accusing its left-wing government of suppressing supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The Brazil section mirrors President Trump’s criticisms of the country’s legal case against Bolsonaro and follows his imposition of a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods in response.
Echoing political narratives
The South Africa section adopts language Trump has used in his campaign to grant refugee status to white South African farmers, warning about “land expropriation of Afrikaners” and abuses against racial minorities. Critics see this as an appeal to white grievance politics both in the United States and abroad. State Department political appointees have said the changes were intended to meet only the minimum congressional requirements and improve “readability.”
A dismantled human rights apparatus
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has closed the State Department offices dedicated to human rights, democracy, and labour, firing many of the staff who oversaw those issues. Unlike previous secretaries, he did not present the report publicly or write a preface. While Rubio was once a vocal Senate critic of abuses by governments like China’s, as Trump’s top diplomat he has softened his language, emphasizing cooperation — including with Beijing and Moscow — over condemnation.
Cuts in China and Israel sections
Though the China section retains a reference to the earlier U.S. finding of genocide against Uyghur Muslims, it omits previous mentions of restrictions on peaceful assembly and association, and its executive summary is half as long as last year’s. The Israel section is notably altered: last year’s report detailed tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza, widespread displacement, and a humanitarian crisis following Israel’s military response to Hamas’s 2023 attack. None of these points appear in this year’s summary.
Criticism from former officials
Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned in 2023 over U.S. arms sales to Israel, called the new reports “few truths, many half-truths and nothing like the truth,” accusing the administration of producing something “more reflective of a Soviet propaganda release than of a democratic system.” He said the omissions, especially on Israel and Gaza, illustrated the extent to which political agendas now dictate the reports’ content.
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