Trump Orders State Department to Overlook International Human Rights Abuses

The State Department is gutting its human rights reporting by excising information detailing abuses by foreign governments from the department’s annual reports , The Intercept has learned.

Officially called “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,” the annual documents are required by law to be a “a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights” in nearly 200 countries and territories worldwide. They are used “by the U.S. Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches as a resource for shaping policy and guiding decisions, informing diplomatic engagements, and determining the allocation of foreign aid and security sector assistance,” according to the State Department.

The reports will no longer call out governments for abuses like res