HRW Warns of “Manipulation” in Human Rights Report by the Trump Administration

New York (EFE) – The organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that the omission by the U.S. State Department of certain sections in its annual human rights report published this Tuesday—along with the “manipulation” of abuses in certain countries—“degrades and politicizes the report.”

The report omitted several categories of violations that were common in previous editions, including those concerning women, the LGTBI community, people with disabilities, government corruption, and the right to peaceful assembly, HRW said in a statement.

It also stated that by undermining the report’s credibility, the administration of President Donald Trump puts human rights defenders at risk, weakens protections for asylum seekers, and undermines the global fight against authoritarianism.

“The new State Department report is in many ways an exercise in cover-up and deception,” said Sarah Yager, HRW’s Washington director.

In the 2024 report, the Trump Administration removed criticisms of El Salvador, Israel, and Russia, while intensifying accusations against Brazil and South Africa, countries considered rivals of the new administration.

HRW reminded that the State Department is obligated to submit an annual report to Congress on the “state of human rights” in countries and territories around the world.

However, it reiterated, this year’s report “may strictly comply with the minimum legal requirements, but it fails to acknowledge the widespread human rights violations against entire groups of people in many places.”

As a result, it warned, Congress now lacks a “comprehensive and broadly reliable” tool from its own government to properly oversee U.S. foreign policy and allocate resources.

It also emphasized that many of the omitted sections and human rights abuses are “extremely important” to understand global human rights trends and progress.

Regarding Israel, the report does not include the mass forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, the use of hunger as a weapon of war, or the deliberate denial of water, electricity, and medical assistance—actions that constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide, HRW highlighted.

In El Salvador, where the U.S. is deporting immigrants to the maximum-security prison Cecot—criticized for human rights violations—the report found no “credible reports of significant abuses.”

The report also states that the human rights situation in Haiti and Venezuela is significantly worse than the previous year. In these countries, as well as in Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan, numerous human rights violations are credibly reported, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances, among others.

However, despite the Trump administration acknowledging that these places are dangerous, it canceled Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Nepalese, and Haitians, HRW argued. It also recalled how this report has been beneficial in various ways, including academically.

“The State Department’s human rights report has long provided a solid—though too often ignored—foundation for U.S. support of the global human rights movement,” Yager also said.

Nevertheless, she believes that the Trump administration has turned much of the report “into a weapon that makes autocrats seem more acceptable and downplays human rights abuses occurring in those places.”