The United States aims, in particular, to move away from “group identities” to better focus on the “natural rights” of the individual
The Trump Administration is rethinking its human rights strategy and intends to classify sex change or abortion as abuses, according to guidelines released on Thursday by the State Department.
Washington gave instructions so that state subsidies for abortion, for example, should be considered as violations of human rights in the compilation to be made for the State Department’s annual report on this matter, implementing the intention of US President Donald Trump to extend the principles of “America First” to US foreign policy.
The new Republican Administration has focused on redirecting the issue of human rights, adapting it to Trump’s priorities in favor of economic agreements and an agenda that it considers attractive to its MAGA (Make America Great Again) base, and this involves a complete review of the State Department’s human rights apparatus, which has long been the centerpiece of the traditional promotion of democratic values by the USA.
“In recent years, new destructive ideologies have promoted human rights violations,” said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott. “The Trump administration will not tolerate these human rights violations, such as the mutilation of children, laws that undermine freedom of expression and racially discriminatory employment practices,” he said, adding, “enough is enough.”
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, sent a note to this effect to US embassies around the world, so that they implement the new guidelines in preparing the annual report on human rights, a senior State Department official explained to several journalists, on condition of anonymity.
The United States in particular intends to move away from “group identities” to better focus on the “natural rights” of the individual, he added.
Rights “pre-exist governments and are granted to us by God, our Creator, and not by governments”, which are there to “defend them”, said the head of the State Department.
Indeed, in the first State Department report on human rights published by the new Trump Administration — released in August, but largely written before the Republican leader’s return to power — references to LGBT+ rights were considerably expunged.
“We’re moving away from group identities, we’re moving away from group labels,” the senior State Department official said, “and we’re focusing on the fact that when a person is persecuted for any reason, that’s a violation of the moral law,” he added, suggesting that previous administrations “perhaps focused on certain issues that I think [da nova liderança da Casa Branca]were motivated by political considerations”.
Among the abuses cited are the chemical or surgical mutilation of children in operations designed to change their sex or “arrests, administrative sanctions and ‘investigations or official warnings’ for statements made”, according to another North American official.
“The application of policies such as positive discrimination in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion, which ‘grant preferential treatment’ to workers based on race, sex or caste” is also in the spotlight.
The new guidelines also cite the “facilitation” of illegal immigration and “public subsidies for abortions or abortifacient medications” or euthanasia.
Every year, the State Department paints a country-by-country overview of the human rights situation around the world, which often shocks several governments. Mandated by the American Congress, it was considered by experts as a global reference from the point of view of rights, freedoms and guarantees.
In the latest report, the United States lamented, in particular, the “deterioration” of human rights in Europe, particularly targeting restrictions on freedom of expression.
Earlier this month, the United States boycotted the Universal Periodic Review of its human rights performance at the UN in Geneva, which drew vehement criticism from delegates from other countries.
