Overview
- Embassies were told to document arrests, penalties or investigations over speech, with officials signaling added scrutiny of Western European online speech rules such as the EU’s Digital Services Act.
- The guidance directs reporting on countries that allow what the department terms chemical or surgical “mutilation of children” in sex-change procedures for minors.
- Diplomats must note enforcement of diversity, equity and inclusion or affirmative action policies that provide preferential treatment based on race, sex or caste.
- The report will track state subsidization of abortions or abortion drugs and seek estimates of annual abortion totals in each country.
- Officials describe the overhaul as a move away from group-based categories and toward individual “natural rights,” building on August changes that pared back LGBTQ-related sections.