Civil Society Sign-on Letter to Department of State re: Human Rights Reports
Dear Secretary Pompeo,
As development of the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices begins, we are writing to raise our deep concern about significant changes in last year’s report, including the deletion of the reproductive rights subsection and limited reporting on prevalence and incidence of gender- based violence. The undersigned 97 civil society organizations call on the State Department to include robust reporting on the incidence and prevalence of gender-based violence and to reverse the decision to delete the reproductive rights subsection and ensure it is not repeated in the 2018 reports.
The State Department’s annual reports are an important human rights tool. The reports:
- aid Congress in directing appropriations for foreign assistance and U.S. foreign policy,
- are used by governments, academics, journalists, civil society organizations, and human rights defenders around the world, and
- inform immigration judges, refugee and asylum officers, and protection or compliance officers at agencies like the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
In addition, the process of preparing and drafting the annual reports provides a critical
opportunity for foreign service officers to engage local civil society and human rights defenders
about the issues and concerns facing them.