The US intends to soften criticism of human rights in Russia, Israel and El Salvador.

US President Donald Trump's administration plans to ease criticism of human rights records in Russia, Israel and El Salvador, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Journalists obtained copies of drafts of annual reports on human rights in Russia, Israel, and El Salvador. According to the newspaper, the reports prepared for publication are much shorter than those from the Biden administration.

While all of them still describe human rights violations, they have been significantly reduced in length and include significant changes in the language used to describe abuses. For example, the draft prepared for Israel is 25 pages long, compared to last year's report of over 100 pages. The draft does not address issues related to corruption and judicial independence.

All references to LGBTQ+ people and crimes against them have been removed from the documents, while descriptions of state abuses have been softened, we read.

Keifer Buckingham, who until January handled these issues at the State Department, said this was a "gross omission" in the case of Russia, where the Supreme Court banned LGBTQIA organizations and labeled them "extremist." In 2024, there were also a series of arrests and raids related to this issue.

A draft report on El Salvador, which at the Trump administration’s urging agreed to detain migrants deported from the United States, concluded that there were no “credible reports of serious human rights abuses” in the country in 2024. A previous State Department report on El Salvador cited “serious human rights problems”—including government-sanctioned killings, instances of torture, and “harsh and life-threatening prison conditions.”

A senior State Department official told the Journal that the 2024 report was written in a way that eliminates redundancies and makes the document more readable. He added that the report focuses on the essentials.

According to the Washington Post, the projects show the extent to which the Trump administration is changing America's role in supporting human rights around the world.

American diplomats have been producing State Department human rights reports for nearly 50 years, and their findings are regularly cited by courts in the United States and abroad.

From Washington, Natalia Dziurdzińska (PAP)

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