State Department's Human Rights Report Highlights Trump Administration's Anti-Human Rights Policies

In response to the U.S. State Department releasing its third human rights report compiled under the Trump administration, Joanne Lin, national director of advocacy and governmental relations at Amnesty International USA, said:

"Not only have human rights come under attack domestically under the Trump administration, but they have been sidelined in its foreign policy, leaving people in dangerous and deadly conditions around the world with no help from the White House.

"The Trump administration's animosity towards the rights of women, girls, and the LGBTI community is evident as the State Department has, once again, omitted sexual and reproductive rights as if they are not fundamental to humanity.

"The criminalization of sexuality and reproduction has a profound impact on people around the world and this omission is a blow to every one of them. Every person has a right to make decisions about their body; this is about dignity."

Importantly, this year's State Department reports confirm that Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras are experiencing endemic levels of corruption and human rights violations and that their humanitarian protection systems are inadequate to protect asylum-seekers and refugees. Yet the Trump administration is currently pursuing unlawful asylum agreements with each of these three countries, in order to send asylum seekers at the U.S. border to the Northern Triangle of Central America.

Amnesty International USA recently published a booklet assessing the human rights records of approximately 35 countries around the world.