The US State Department will soften its rhetoric on Russia, Israel, and El Salvador in its 2024 report on human rights around the world, The Washington Post reported, citing a draft document it had access to.
As the publication notes, the sections dedicated to the three listed countries turned out to be “significantly shorter than in last year's report, prepared by the Biden administration“. The report has been stripped of information about possible cases of violence and discrimination against members of the LGBT community, and "descriptions of abuse of power have been toned down."
A State Department official quoted by the newspaper explained that "the report has been revised to get rid of redundant information, make it easier to understand, and also to be more in line with legal requirements." "The human rights report focuses on key issues," the State Department spokesman said.
The publication emphasizes that the State Department usually presents an annual report on the state of human rights in March-April, but the administration of US President Donald Trump "has significantly delayed" its publication.
In April, the US National Public Radio (NPR) reported that the Trump administration had instructed the diplomatic service to change the interpretation of human rights in the annual report and reduce elements that are not legally required to be covered. As NPR reported, the data for 2024, prepared in January, before Trump took office, were revised.
The Russian Embassy in the United States negatively assessed the annual report of the State Department, presented in April 2024, calling it “another attempt to impose American values on the international community“. Diplomats emphasized that the attacks on Russia contained in the document “largely boil down to challenging the legality of the special operation in Ukraine and unfounded allegations of violations of international humanitarian law by the Russian armed forces“. As the embassy noted, "this is not the first time that Washington has played the human rights card in futile attempts to destabilize the domestic political situation in Russia".