Countries that implement racial or gender diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies now risk being seen by the Trump administration as violating human rights.
The State Department is communicating the new rules to all U.S. embassies and consulates involved in compiling its annual report on human rights violations around the world.
The new instructions also consider countries that subsidize abortion or facilitate mass migration as violating human rights.
The changes, which the State Department says are aimed at ending “destructive ideologies,” have been condemned by human rights activists who say the Trump administration is redefining long-established human rights principles to pursue ideological goals.
The moves reflect a major shift in Washington’s established focus on global human rights protection and signal the foreign policy expansion of the Trump administration’s domestic agenda on issues that have become a lightning rod for division in the United States in recent years.
A senior State Department official said the new rules were “a tool to change government behavior.”
DEI policies were designed with the goal of improving outcomes for specific racial and identity groups. Since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has aggressively sought to end DEI and restore what he calls merit-based opportunities in the United States.
The senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “The United States remains committed to the Declaration of Independence’s recognition that all men are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights.”
The official added that the rights “were granted to us by God, our creator, and not by governments.”
Other foreign government policies that U.S. embassies will be asked to classify as human rights violations include:
Subsidizing abortions, “as well as the estimated total number of abortions annually” Gender transition surgery for children, defined by the State Department as “operations involving chemical or surgical mutilation…to change their sex” Facilitating mass or illegal migration “through a country’s territory to other countries” Arrests or “official investigations or warnings for speech” – a reference to the Trump administration’s opposition to internet safety laws adopted by some European countries to deter hate speech online
State Department deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott said the new guidance aims to stop “new destructive ideologies.” [that] have given refuge to human rights violations.
He said: “The Trump administration will not allow these human rights violations, such as child mutilation, laws that undermine free speech, and racist employment practices, to go unchecked. ”
He added: “Enough is enough. ”
Critics have accused the administration of redefining long-established universal human rights principles to pursue its own ideological goals.
Uzra Zeya, a former senior State Department official who now runs the charity Human Rights First, said the Trump administration was “using international human rights as a weapon for domestic partisan ends.”
“Attempting to characterize DEI as a human rights violation marks a new low point in the Trump administration’s weaponization of international human rights,” she said.
She added that the new guidance excluded the rights of “women, LGBTQI+ people, religious and ethnic minorities, and non-believers – all of whom enjoy equal rights under US and international law, despite the Trump administration’s tortuous and obtuse rhetoric on rights.”
The new rules reflect “breathtaking” animosity towards LGBTQI+ people, Ms Zeya added.
The State Department’s annual human rights report has consistently been considered the most comprehensive study of its kind by any government.
It has documented abuses including torture, extrajudicial killings and political persecution of minorities. Much of its focus and scope has remained broadly similar across Republican and Democratic administrations.
The new instructions follow the Trump administration’s release of the latest annual report in August, which was significantly rewritten and scaled down from those in previous years.
This has reduced criticism of some U.S. allies while intensifying disapproval of perceived enemies. Entire sections included in previous years’ reports were removed, significantly reducing coverage of issues like government corruption and the persecution of LGBTQ+ people.
The report also says the human rights situation has “worsened” in some European democracies, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany, due to laws banning hate speech online.
The language used in the report echoes previous criticism from some US tech bosses who oppose online harm reduction laws, describing them as attacks on free speech.
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