The Trump administration intends to scale back US criticism of Russia and other nations with extensive abuse records, according to leaked State Department human rights report drafts reviewed by The Washington Post.
The draft reports for Russia, Israel and El Salvador are significantly shorter than last year’s Biden administration versions and remove all references to LGBTQ+ individuals or crimes against them. Descriptions of government abuses have been softened throughout the documents.
“The 2024 Human Rights report has been restructured in a way that removes redundancies, increases report readability,” a senior State Department official said on 6 August. The official added that the Trump administration will focus on “core issues.”
The changes follow internal guidance by Trump appointee Samuel Samson instructing diplomats to remove references to violence against LGBTQ+ people and government corruption. Samson reviewed the reports for all three countries.
The draft Israel report shrank from over 100 pages to just 25 pages. Russia’s report contains no mention of the country’s Supreme Court ban on LGBTQ+ organizations or subsequent raids and arrests.
“Secretary Rubio has repeatedly asserted that his State Department has not abandoned human rights, but it is clear this administration only cares about the human rights of some people in some countries, when it’s convenient,” said Keifer Buckingham, former State Department official now at the Council for Global Equality.
The documents show how Trump is rethinking America’s role in global human rights advocacy, according to the WP. Officials point to Trump’s May speech in Saudi Arabia, where he criticized “Western interventionists giving you lectures on how to live or govern your own affairs.”
US diplomats have compiled these reports for nearly 50 years. Their findings are considered the most thorough of their kind and are relied upon by courts worldwide.
The reports are congressionally mandated by February’s end, with public release typically in March or April. The drafts for Russia and El Salvador are marked “finalized,” while Israel’s is under “quality check.”