Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Omissions in 2024 rights report to avoid redundancy, biased demands: U.S Govt

The Human Rights Watch had berated the report as “an exercise in whitewashing and deception.”

• August 20, 2025
President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump [Credit; Reuters]

President Donald Trump’s administration has clarified the omission of certain human rights abuses in the latest Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released by the U.S Department of State for the year 2024.

The clarification followed Human Rights Watch’s statement accusing Mr Trump’s administration of distorting facts related to human rights abuses in developing countries.

In a statement obtained by Peoples Gazette on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the State Department said the latest report was devoid of redundant sections found in previous reports to increase its reliability.

“The 2024 Human Rights Report removes report redundancy, increases report readability, and is responsive to the legislative mandates that underpin the report, rather than an expansive list of politically biased demands and assertions,” the statement read.

According to the U.S government, the human rights report could only make the world “safer, stronger and more prosperous if individual reports are useful, factual, and unclouded by political biases and cherry-picking”.

“This year’s revised individual reports are a welcome step in that direction,” the statement said.

It noted that Mr Trump’s administration is committed to leading efforts on human rights as well as ceasefire signings and treaties.

The U.S said, “The Trump Administration, both President Trump and Secretary Rubio, have been leading efforts on the most important human right, which is the right to life, including leading on ceasefire signings and treaties, and multiple other avenues, demonstrating the administration’s commitment to human rights.”

The Human Rights Watch had berated the report as “an exercise in whitewashing and deception”, accusing Mr Trump’s administration of omitting key sections and manipulating human rights abuses in developing countries.

The organisation stated the administration put human rights defenders at risk, weakened protections for asylum seekers and undercut the global fight against authoritarianism.

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