In response to leaked chapters from the forthcoming U.S. State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Amanda Klasing, Amnesty International USA’s national director of government relations and advocacy said the following:
“The leaked chapters of the latest Annual Human Rights Report reveal a disturbing effort by the Trump administration to purposefully fail to fully capture the alarming and growing attacks on human rights in certain countries around the globe.
“Alarmingly, we understand that the mandate from Secretary Rubio was for those who wrote the original drafts of the reports to go back and wipe out portions of the reports that had already been written – to delete stories from survivors of human rights violations and to ignore some cases that exemplify the kinds of repression happening in certain countries. The secretary’s instructions were to cut everything not legislatively mandated, but the leaked documents appear to show effort to narrow the scope of what the world hears about human rights abuses around the world.
“In addition to limiting the scope of the reports, it is extremely troubling that, as we’ve seen from the leaked chapters, the reports omit or downplay human rights violations in some countries, likely a tactic to serve the Trump administration’s own agenda.
“These reports are used by other governments and advocates around the world, including to support asylum claims for people seeking safety, and must offer an honest and full look at human rights violations. And, they are mandated by Congress to ensure it has the information it needs to play a meaningful oversight role, including assessing that taxpayer money does not go to abusive governments or to fuel human rights violations. The Trump administration has turned this report into yet another tool to obscure facts to push forward anti-rights policy choices. This move fundamentally undermines U.S. credibility.
“It would be a travesty and subversion of congressional intent to downplay or ignore human rights violations faced by marginalized populations including refugees and asylum seekers, women and girls, Indigenous people, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTQI+ people throughout the world.
“From what we’ve seen so far, this year’s report has been manipulated by the Trump administration to not accurately reflect the ongoing and grave violations of human rights, and that’s deeply troubling. The downplaying or exclusion of key issues, such as discrimination and attacks on civil society, from this year’s report will hinder efforts from governments and civil society organizations around the world to respond to these abuses.
“Instead of using its platform and influence to shine a light on human rights violations and push for global accountability and respect for human dignity, with this report, the U.S. appears to be dangerously sweeping significant human rights issues under the rug.”
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