In U-turn, US rights report to track gender changes, DEI
First published nearly 50 years ago, the State Department’s annual report on human rights practices has long sought to provide comprehensive explanations for abuses abroad, often angering other governments.
President Donald Trump’s administration has shifted the United States’ tone on human rights, treating the issue as a cudgel against enemies and a way to highlight domestic priorities while downplaying concerns when other interests are at stake.
In a cable sent to US embassies around the world, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for reporting on a number of Trump’s root causes as part of a revamped, shorter annual report.
“In recent years, new destructive ideologies have provided a safe haven for human rights abuses,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. he said.
“The Trump administration will not allow human rights violations, such as the mutilation of children, laws that violate free speech, and racially discriminatory employment practices, to go unchecked,” he said. “We say enough is enough.” Specifically, the report will ask U.S. embassies to report on countries that allow “the chemical or surgical mutilation of children in operations that attempt to change their gender.”
Rubio also asked embassies to pursue affirmative action and other “preferential treatment” “on the basis of race, gender or caste.”
Trump has repeatedly spoken out against transgender rights. Rubio’s State Department has insisted that passports now reflect Americans’ gender listed on their birth certificates, ending decades of allowing people to choose their gender and ending the “X” option for gender introduced under his predecessor, Antony Blinken.
Former president Joe Biden’s administration had made LGBTQ rights a key thrust of its foreign policy, appointing the first State Department ambassador to advocate for sexual minorities abroad; this position was immediately terminated by Rubio.
Trump not only ended equity programs aimed at providing opportunities to historically disadvantaged groups, but also threatened companies that implemented such policies, saying they were harming America’s white majority.
– ‘Natural rights’ –
Amnesty International called the changes “chilling” and “a blatant attempt to institutionalize a philosophy that grants only some rights to some people depending on who you are or where you live.”
“This sends the message that the United States no longer believes in the fundamental element of the human rights system it helped build,” said Amanda Klasing of Amnesty International USA.
The first human rights report issued by the second Trump administration — released in August but heavily researched before returning to office — significantly downplayed LGBTQ rights, removing references even for countries like Uganda, which has an anti-gay law and requires the death penalty.
In the cable, Rubio also instructed embassies to monitor violations of “freedom of expression,” another key issue of the administration.
Vice President J.D. Vance condemned Germany for crackdowns on the far-right AfD, and the United States punished its top ally Britain for online posts targeting immigrants.
The move comes despite Rubio revoking visas for foreigners because of his speeches, including statements against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and posts mocking conservative commentator Charlie Kirk after his killing.
Trump on Tuesday brushed aside concerns about murder in the strangled dismemberment of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate as he rolled out the red carpet for the kingdom’s crown prince, who has promised major investments.
A senior State Department official said Rubio is trying to refocus on “natural rights,” a concept cherished by philosophical conservatives that was also championed during the first Trump administration.
“The United States remains committed to the Declaration of Independence’s recognition that all human beings are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Rights, he said, “exist before governments” and are “given to us not by governments, but by God, our Creator.”
