GIWPS Statement on the Gutting of U.S. Human Rights Reporting
The State Department released its long-delayed 2024 Human Rights Reports last week, revealing abbreviated country reports that eliminate long-standing practices of documenting violations against women and most minorities.
The gutting of the Human Rights Report—the United States’ official record of global human rights violations—comes on the 30th anniversary of then-First Lady Hillary Clinton’s famous declaration at the 1995 UN Conference in Beijing that “women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.”
“Are women no longer considered human? Are they not half the population of the world who continue to undergo significant, well-documented abuses to their rights?” asks GIWPS Executive Director Melanne Verveer, who previously served as the first US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the State Department.
Including women’s rights in State Department human rights reporting has been standard practice since the Carter Administration. Beginning in 1979, all 154 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices included a short paragraph about the legal and political status of women, highlighting legal reforms and economic advancements.
After the Beijing Conference, the reporting process became more formalized. As international human rights law began to recognize a broader spectrum of women’s rights violations, the Country Reports expanded to cover girls’ access to education, domestic violence statistics, human trafficking, workplace discrimination, and the status of women’s civil society organizing. What had once been considered “cultural issues” were now rightly recognized under the umbrella of human rights.
This week, the State Department erased decades of progress.
The 2024 report introduction includes zero references to discrimination against women—compared to the 2023 report preface, which included 24 references to women and a standalone paragraph explaining how each of the country reports would discuss violence against women, reproductive rights, equality of economic opportunity, as well as any government tolerance of women’s rights abuses.
The 2024 report also eliminates a standalone section on women’s rights in each of the country reports. As a result, 80 country reports do not mention women at all. For example, More To Her Story reports that the Papua New Guinea (PNG) report does not contain a single reference to women despite the country’s historical and widespread gender-based violence.
More To Her Story explains that although the 2024 reports “were largely completed before President Donald Trump began his second term, they underwent sweeping revisions in recent months that stripped out sections on racial and ethnic discrimination, child abuse, and other key protections.”
The gutting of the Human Rights Reports comes on the heels of the elimination of the Office of Global Women’s Issues. Secretary Marco Rubio promised members of Congress that he is “not abandoning women’s issues” and would integrate WPS within the Department’s embassies and regional bureaus. The recent revisions to the Human Rights Reports tell another story.
“The Human Rights Reports are intended to spotlight human rights abuses, to demonstrate the need to counteract the violations, and to help ensure that perpetrators will be held accountable. Without comprehensive and credible tracking of violations—including those against women—the United States signals that we are turning a blind eye to the full range of human rights issues and we risk emboldening those responsible to perpetuate their actions,” says Verveer.
###
About Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security (GIWPS)
Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security seeks to promote a more stable, peaceful, and just world by focusing on the important role women play in preventing conflict and building peace, growing economies, and addressing global threats like climate change and violent extremism. We engage in rigorous research, host global convenings, advance strategic partnerships, and nurture the next generation of leaders. Housed within the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, the Institute is headed by the former U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at giwps.georgetown.edu and follow us on Twitter and Facebook @giwps and Instagram @georgetown_wps.
Media Contact
Sarah Rutherford
sarah.rutherford@georgetown.edu
Explore More
End of Year Reflections
This year has been particularly challenging for peace around the world, with…
“No Amnesty, No Silence:” Ukrainian Women Urge Accountability for War-Time Sexual Violence
Last week, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) brought…
