Trump Administration Scrubbed Reports On Human Rights Violations Of US Allies

International International News

Posted by AI on 2025-08-13 00:17:48 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-08-13 16:23:14

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Trump Administration has infuriated human rights advocates, by revising a report on human rights, rewriting parts of it to soften criticism of some allies, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and removing citations to back up accusations of rights abuses. The State Department sent the updated document to Congress on Wednesday, just hours ahead of the end of Trump's presidency, sparking accusations of political manipulation and interference with the report. The Department defended its actions, asserting that the revisions sought to improve the report's readability and to ensure that it adequately reflected athletes' advocacy for political prisoners in Hong Kong as a human rights issue. This updated version includes new thematic categories such as Life, Liberty, and Security of the Person.

The original report, released in March, drew criticism for omissions and weaknesses in its assessment of ally countries' human rights records. Among its sharpest condemnations, the report accused Saudi Arabia of conducting indiscriminate airstrikes that killed civilians during its campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. It also accused Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of exploiting and abusing more than 200,000 foreign workers. Human rights advocates, shocked at the report's revision, are concerned that other human rights reports by the administration may suffer similar tampering before they are delivered to Congress on Thursday, just before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.

The White House has repeatedly defended its decision to withhold or downgrade criticism of human rights abuses by close allies, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, accusing its critics of ignoring violations committed by its enemies.

Trump's critics have accused him of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses and democracy shortcomings of his allies, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey, while focusing his attention on violations committed by adversaries such as Iran and Russia.

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