Foreign Relations & International Law

State Dept. Releases 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

Maya Nicholson
Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 12:18 PM

The reports document the state of human rights in nearly 200 countries and territories across the globe.

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On April 22, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2023—which is also referred to as the Human Rights Report (HRR). The HRR—compiled by employees of the State Department in U.S. missions abroad and in Washington, D.C.—intends to track, document, and analyze the human rights abuses and advancements in the nearly 200 countries receiving U.S. assistance as well as all United Nations member states. 

In the report’s preface, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken emphasized that the HRR helps to “connect U.S. diplomatic and foreign assistance efforts to the fundamental American value of protecting and promoting respect for human rights for all, while helping to inform the work of civil society, human rights defenders, scholars, multilateral institutions, and others.” Blinken highlighted human rights abuses in Russia, Sudan, Israel, Gaza, Iran, Afghanistan, China, and Cuba, but also noted advancements in human rights in Kenya, Japan, Estonia, Slovenia, and Jordan.

You can read the 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices here or below:  

Preface

Africa (Sub-Saharan)

East Asia and Pacific

Europe and Eurasia

Near East (Middle East and North Africa)

South and Central Asia

Western Hemisphere


Maya Nicholson was previously an editorial intern at Lawfare. She graduated cum laude with a B.A. in international relations from New York University in 2023. Maya has interned in several law firms, including Farris LLP, McLaughlin and Stern, and was previously a UN advocacy intern at the International Crisis Group.

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