US human rights report to downplay allies’ abuse

AFP :

The annual human rights report produced by the United States will scale back criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia, a report said Wednesday, as officials hinted it would focus instead on what they call dwindling freedom of expression in Europe.

The report customarily highlights the imprisonment of dissidents, women’s rights, and extrajudicial killings in countries with authoritarian governments, usually drawing a rebuke from the likes of Beijing.

But the first report under President Donald Trump looks set to gloss over abuses of governments close to his administration, according to The Washington Post, which said it had seen leaked drafts.

The section on El Salvador — whose strongman president Nayib Bukele has taken migrants deported without trial from the United States — says the country had “no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” in 2024, the Post reported.

Rights groups speak of mass arrests and an abusive prison system in the Central American country.