US State Department human rights report calls out South Africa, Brazil

Key topics:US rights report slams Brazil, South Africa over worsening abusesCriticism of Israel, El Salvador eased under Trump-aligned prioritiesRubio accused of politicising human rights for MAGA agenda.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up for the BizNews channel here..By Eric Martin.The State Department’s annual human rights report called out Brazil and South Africa while scaling back criticism of Israel and El Salvador, shifting its account of other nations’ abuses to align with President Donald Trump’s priorities.The report, which is meant to serve as a record of other countries’ violations, criticized South Africa for what it said was a “significantly worsened” situation in 2024 and cited steps toward “land expropriation of Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities in the country.”It also said the human rights situation in Brazil “declined during the year.” Brazil “undermined democratic debate” by limiting access to on-line content that it deemed to “‘undermine democracy,’ disproportionately suppressing the speech of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro,” it said.Those changes highlighted how Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s department is shifting the emphasis of the report in keeping with Trump’s shifting disputes and alliances with other nations. Trump and Rubio have alleged that South Africa’s land laws are unjust toward White farmers, a claim spurred by Trump’s billionaire ex-adviser Elon Musk. He has spread the conspiracy of a “genocide” against Afrikaners.Trump recently hit Brazil with a 50% tariff and placed sanctions on a Supreme Court justice who is overseeing legal cases against Bolsonaro. Trump has called the trial of his ally for an alleged 2023 coup attempt a “witch hunt.”Likewise, the State Department softened prior criticism of Trump allies. For El Salvador, the report found “no credible reports of significant human rights abuses,” while at the same time stating that “the government took credible steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses.”.Read more:.FT: The evolution of Marco Rubio from free-trader to MAGA populist.The previous report for El Salvador highlighted concern about conditions in the nation’s prisons after President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency to crack down on crime. Amnesty International in 2022 said Salvadoran authorities “committed massive human rights violations, including thousands of arbitrary detentions and violations of due process, as well as torture and ill-treatment.”Bukele emerged as a key Trump ally this year, opening his jails to hold alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua deported from the US. Bukele also offered to house American criminals, an offer that Rubio called “extraordinary,” and was hosted by Trump at the White House for the first visit by a Western Hemisphere leader, in April.Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, slammed this year’s report and said Rubio’s State Department has “shamelessly turned a once-credible tool of US foreign policy mandated by Congress into yet another instrument to advance MAGA political grievances and culture war obsessions.”Last year’s report also gave more detail on the number of Palestinians killed and wounded in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The new report also removed references to the corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The report is significantly shorter than in recent years, a change that State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said was meant to avoid redundancy and increase its readability.“The report continues to call out the world’s repressive actors, while also addressing abuses that had not previously uncovered,” she said in a briefing in Washington on Tuesday..© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

US State Department human rights report calls out South Africa, Brazil

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