Overview
- The State Department released its 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices this week after extensive revisions by Trump appointees delayed its publication.
- Several country chapters saw dramatic page reductions—from 68 to 28 pages in Ethiopia, 100 to 27 in Pakistan and 101 to 41 in Russia—stripping out contextual detail.
- Entire sections documenting abuses against LGBTQ+ people, and references to women and disabled persons, were removed or sharply curtailed across multiple reports.
- Criticism of US partners such as Israel, El Salvador and Hungary was softened or excised, while scrutiny of Brazil and South Africa intensified.
- Human Rights Watch, the Congressional Equality Caucus and Hong Kong’s foreign ministry warn the streamlined edits will weaken asylum adjudication and erode US human-rights standing.