US Human Rights Report To Downplay Allies' Abuse

The annual human rights report produced by the United States will scale back criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia, a report said Wednesday, as officials hinted it would focus instead on what they call dwindling freedom of expression in Europe.

The report customarily highlights the imprisonment of dissidents, women's rights, and extrajudicial killings in countries with authoritarian governments, usually drawing a rebuke from the likes of Beijing. 

But the first report under President Donald Trump looks set to gloss over abuses of governments close to his administration, according to The Washington Post, which said it had seen leaked drafts.

The section on El Salvador -- whose strongman president Nayib Bukele has taken migrants deported without trial from the United States -- says the country had "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses" in 2024, the Post reported.

Rights groups speak of mass arrests and an abusive prison system in the Central American country.

The Post said that while references to human rights abuses in the three countries are still present, each section is considerably truncated.

A senior State Department official told reporters the report as a whole will hone in on what the White House calls "censorship" in traditional allies.

"We are not shying away... in this administration, from having frank discussions with our partners and allies about what we see as censorship or disfavored voices, whether it be political or religious, and making sure that they're protected whether they are in the mainstream or not," the official said.

"I think freedom of expression is one that has really been on the, I would say, has been reversing in some countries, and so we're having those frank conversations to make sure that the fundamental value of human freedom of expression is protected."

The official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, gave no specific examples of what the administration sees as the shrinking space for free speech, but Trump and his allies frequently complain that conservative voices are being silenced.

Ahead of an election in Germany, Vice President JD Vance dismayed Germans by endorsing the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland, a party the country's spy agency says is "extremist."

No publication date has yet been given for the report, which is usually issued early in the year, with the State Department focusing on "restructuring" it and making it more readable, the official said.

Last week, opposition lawmakers warned the report must continue to highlight real abuses, instead of just repeating Trump's talking points, if it is to continue to have any value.

"For decades, the State Department's Human Rights Reports have provided critical insight into human rights conditions in countries around the world and have helped inform American foreign policy," said Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.

"The Trump Administration's actions to water down and politicise these reports undermine their very purpose and damage the credibility of the Department itself."

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