On Tuesday, August 12, the State Department – currently under the direction of Secretary of State Marco Rubio – released its annual report on global human rights abuses. According to NPR, staff were ordered to slash about two-thirds of the content and eliminate entire sections not “explicitly required by statute.” The changes removed or scaled back accounts of gender-based and race-based violence, anti-LGBTQ persecution, and environmental justice issues. Officials defended the edits as an effort to align with administration priorities and improve readability.
An internal memo obtained by NPR instructed editors to strip out references to diversity, equity, and inclusion; sexual violence against children; and violations of privacy. Mentions of limits on political participation, government corruption, attacks on minorities (including the LGBTQ+ community), and harassment of human rights groups were also removed.
Critics say the changes have significantly diminished the utility of the reports, which guide congressional decisions on foreign aid, arms sales, and diplomatic policy, and often serve as evidence in asylum and human rights cases. Amanda Klasing of Amnesty International USA warned that “if you strip it down to one case, it makes it easier for governments — and particularly authoritarian governments — to say that, you know, this is just one case. Tell us a real problem.”
The report omits key LGBTQ-specific information that had appeared in previous editions. For example, it does not reference Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Law and its impact on the country’s LGBTQ community, even while noting that Ugandan officials “reportedly committed acts of sexual violence” and that NGOs documented forced physical examinations of detainees. It also excludes Brazil’s distinction as the country with the highest number of reported murders of transgender people, despite criticizing its restrictions on online speech. Additionally, there is no reference to Thailand’s 2023 legalization of same-sex marriage.
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus and member of the LGBTQ+ community, said, “Omitting the persecution of LGBTQI+ people from the human rights reports doesn’t erase the abuse, violence, and criminalization our community is facing around the world — it condones it.”
The report claims “no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” in El Salvador, a country whose president, Nayib Bukele, has accepted $6 million from the U.S. to house migrant deportees in a high-security mega-prison, and in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government has pursued anti-LGBTQ measures.
Advocates have condemned the revisions as political censorship that erases critical documentation of abuses against marginalized groups, particularly the LGBTQ+ community. The Council for Global Equality and Democracy Forward have filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records on directives to remove such references. Lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), warn the changes deprive policymakers and the public an accurate picture of human rights conditions worldwide, undermining advocacy and damaging U.S. credibility in defending human rights.