Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House on November 18, 2025. Win McNamee/Getty Images

The US State Department will focus on “natural rights” like freedom of speech in its next human rights report, a senior State Department official said Thursday, as the agency targets traditional European allies for alleged freedom of speech restrictions.

The move further institutionalizes changes seen in the latest report released in August, which covered the 2024 calendar year. That report alleged “significant human rights issues” in allied countries including the United Kingdom, France and Germany over “serious restrictions on freedom of expression.”

The St

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