The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cuts reports on human rights violations: NPR

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued its long -awaited reports on international human rights on Tuesday, and it greatly reduces the types of government repression and the abuse of treatment that the United States considers during the era of President Trump worth criticism.

The agency said that “simplified” human rights reports are closely adhered to what is required to be under the law. But critics say that the reduced content allows the authorities off the hook.

The new report on El Salvador refers to bad conditions – simply a saying in the executive summary, “There were no reliable reports on major human rights violations.” The same hypnotism appears in the executive summary of Hungary, and gold is an intense documentation of government corruption there. Violations of freedom of assembly ended in peace in China.

NPR document analysis shows this year about a third of last year. Reports on El Salvador and Moldova are more than 75 %.

Since the 1970s, The United States collected these reports In every country in the world, highlighting violations such as restrictions imposed on free assembly, unfair elections and punishing minority groups. None of these categories has been documented in new reports.

Congress relies on assessments to form decisions on foreign aid and arms sales. Reports are greatly expected by diplomats, activists and journalists and have a reputation for being about to be comprehensive. But defenders say they fear that recent changes mean that this year’s reports are taking more political determination.

The release of this year was delayed for several months, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent additional time to delete thousands of violations from the drafts prepared in 2024 by foreign service officers and their contacts abroad.

President Trump sought the new approach this spring on his visit to Saudi Arabia, and Long criticized for a long time for tyranny and the abuse of women and children. Trump praised Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which is It is widely believed to be an order The torture and assassination of journalist Jamal Khashji, saying that the success of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not come from the builders of the Western nation, “lectures on how to live and how your own affairs control.”

Traditionally, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reports in general. This year, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio chose not to set a dedicated event date, although he praised the reports in the past when he held the position of US Senate Member. One of his former Senate colleagues criticized what he considered Rubio’s new position on reports.

“I have expressed regret my vote for Senator Rubio,” said Senator Chris Van Holin, a democratic in Maryland, sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a voice to confirm Rubio as a state minister. “When he was a member of the Senate, he used to stand and support an American foreign policy that relies on promoting democracy and human rights. But since he was confirmed, he seems to have forgotten all of this.”

Two -thirds of the content content of the reports

Earlier this year, NPR obtained the Ministry of Interior Foreign Affairs note that directs employees who edit reports to remove full categories of violations “that are not explicitly required under the statute”, including gender -based violence and environmental justice. They were told to remove nearly two -thirds of the content, while officials call there an effort to consider management policies and make reports “more readable”.

Deleted articles include issues that are widely considered basic rights under international law, such as the right to a fair general trial. In the memo, the editors were ordered to remove references to diversity, fairness, integration, sexual violence against children and overlap with privacy. Signs were removed to the restrictions imposed on political participation, government corruption, violence against minorities, gay people, and harassment of human rights organizations.

“A massive shrinkage” defenders of surprises

Human rights advocates have been prepared for change under the Trump administration, but some say that the volume of cuts is still horrific.

“We expected women’s rights and minority rights to be cut,” said Yaqui Wang, a human rights researcher in China for a long time, and the last of which is with Freedom House. “But even freedom of expression – international understanding of what the United States considers human rights, number one – was cut. It was only shocked.”

Freedom of expression for the press is still following in new reports, but there is no category that covers the expression of ordinary citizens.

Wang says that for human rights defenders and journalists, reports are more than just a record – it is a tool. They are used to supporting asylum cases and are cited in court cases.

And abstraction down exceeds the removal of the entire categories. For the legal categories legally, the memorandum directed the editors to reduce the number of examples of each violation to a “single illustration”, regardless of the extent of the spread of violations. In practice, this means that a country with a pattern of intimidation or torture is criticized for only one violation, which wipes the broader range of repression.

Amanda Classing, the National Director of Government Relations and Call of Amnesty International for the United States of America, said the changes mean that the United States is easy for violators.

“If you strip it into one case, then this makes it easier for governments – especially authoritarian governments – to say, as you know, this is just one case. Tell us a real problem,” said Classing.

Van Holin described the reviews as “irresponsible use of tax dollars” that deprives both politicians and audiences “the truth that is not connected” about human rights positions abroad.

Gate Political Guard

The memorandum also orders reports of 20 specific countries, including Canada, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom and Ukraine, which have been marked for review by Samuel Samson, the political appointed in the Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Samson, who has not responded to NPR request for an interview, is a graduate of the University of Texas 2021. His autobiography includes work in “The American Moment”, a conservative political organization, whose mission, According to the CEOIt is the situation of right -wing activists in “good wages where it will have an effect.”

Van Holin said the changes raised questions about the administration’s priorities at home.

He said: “If the Trump administration is undermining human rights here, they do not want to report what is happening in other countries.”

It is worth noting that the report on the United Kingdom. While most of the country’s reports, there is no little mention of freedom of expression, in the new UK report, there are intense documents on government restrictions that define “hate speech”. Vice President JD Vance This issue publicly raised Among the violations of the expression outside the abortion clinics in the UK and restrictions on prayer.

The relevant legal obligations

The administration insists that it is still committed to the defense of human rights. But Van Hollen argues that rewriting the minimum may no longer comply with the law, which requires “complete and complete” accounting for internationally recognized human rights.

“You cannot eliminate the main groups of human rights here,” Van Holin said, adding: “They do not want to report what is happening in other countries.”