America Plans to Ease Criticism of El Salvador, Israel, and Russia Regarding Human Rights

SadaNews Translation: Leaked drafts of the U.S. State Department's annual human rights reports indicate that the Trump administration intends to significantly reduce U.S. government criticism of certain foreign countries with extensive records of abuses, according to information revealed by the Washington Post.

The Washington Post report, as translated by SadaNews, states: "Drafts of the human rights reports for El Salvador, Israel, and Russia, which the newspaper has reviewed, are much shorter than the reports prepared by the Biden administration last year. These reports removed all references to LGBTQ+ individuals or crimes committed against them, and the description of remaining government abuses was toned down." The U.S. administration claims that the reports are abbreviated to facilitate reading.

El Salvador: The report indicated the absence of "reliable reports of serious human rights abuses" in 2024, despite the 2023 report documenting government-sponsored killings, torture, and harsh prison conditions. The new report ignored the history of violence in prisons, merely noting a general decrease in deaths, despite ongoing government oversight.

Israel: The report was reduced from over 100 pages to just 25 pages. References to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial, controversial judicial reform efforts, and issues of surveillance of Palestinians and restrictions on their movement, such as the use of facial recognition technologies to limit freedom of movement—previously documented—were omitted.

Russia: The report experienced a significant reduction in length, with references to opposition suppression, restrictions on freedom of expression, arbitrary arrests, and abuses against the LGBTQ+ community being deleted. The language used to describe the abuses was softened, despite their ongoing nature according to independent human rights organizations.

These amendments align with internal directives issued by the State Department, which called for reducing the content of the reports to comply with the legally required minimum and deleting references to abuses historically documented by the United States. These changes were overseen by Samuel Sampson, a political appointee by Trump, who sparked controversy with an article criticizing Europe and accusing it of restricting freedoms.

The drafts for the reports on El Salvador and Russia received a "final" label, while the draft on Israel was described as "under quality inspection," all having undergone edits in recent days. It remains unclear whether the final versions to be sent to Congress will match these drafts.

The State Department's human rights reports serve as a key reference for U.S. and international courts, and diplomats have been preparing them for about 50 years. Congress is required to publish them annually by March or April, covering activities and abuses that occurred in the previous year.