Trump administration moves focus of major human rights report away from oppressed identity groups
The State Department’s upcoming human rights report will move away from mentioning the persecution of marginalized groups such as women, ethnic and racial minorities, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community and will instead focus on an individual’s “natural rights,” a senior State Department official said Thursday.
“We believe that every individual has these rights, regardless of their collective identity,” the senior State Department official said at a press conference.
The official spoke on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on condition of anonymity. “It’s not because of their collective identity, it’s because a right has been taken away from them, whether it’s freedom of expression, freedom of religion, you name it, and we’re here to protect them and hold governments accountable.”
New guidance was sent to all US embassies and consulates abroad on Thursday, requiring US diplomats to also note other human rights violations in foreign countries, according to another senior State Department official.
These violations include the chemical or surgical mutilation of children in operations that attempt to modify their sex, the enforcement of DEI policies such as affirmative action, the facilitation of mass or illegal migration across a state’s territory to other countries, and state support for abortions; Attempts to force individuals to engage in euthanasia and medical abuse including forced testing, forced organ cutting, and eugenics gene editing practices on human fetuses.
“In recent years, new destructive ideologies have provided a safe haven for human rights abuses,” Tommy Piggott, the State Department’s principal deputy spokesman, said Thursday. “The Trump administration will not allow these human rights violations, such as child mutilation, laws that violate free speech, and racially discriminatory hiring practices, to go unchecked. We say enough is enough.”
The State Department also sees this shift as an opportunity to address human rights issues in parts of the world that have not been covered in the past, including what the Trump administration sees as censorship of speech in Western Europe.
“When it comes to Western Europe, we are not saying that we favor one opposition party or one particular political group. We are saying that all groups, all parties, all people should be able to speak freely, including online, including social media,” the senior State Department official said, referring to the European Union’s Digital Service Act, which regulates illegal content, hate speech and disinformation posted online.
“We see strong regulatory regimes in Europe that, I think, limit freedom of expression across Europe, and we have serious concerns about that.”
Historically, US administrations have based their human rights policy on… Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Which strives to avoid Western or American definitions in favor of a more common understanding and international standards.
State Department officials do not believe this shift will prevent the United States from holding foreign governments accountable for violations.
“The whole point of freedom of expression is that you have to listen to those with whom you disagree,” the senior State Department official said. “If we all agreed on every issue, there would be no need for freedom of expression. We would all disagree.”
“So, of course, we highlight places where freedom of religion or freedom of expression for opposition political parties or certain minorities has been restricted in some countries.”