The move was just the latest in a series of efforts, many of them initiated by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to downsize or eliminate key instruments of American human rights diplomacy, some of which have been around for decades, and whose track record is very strong. Unless these moves are quickly reversed, the U.S. government will lack the tools it needs to formulate and implement a serious human rights policy. Authoritarian leaders around the world, including Chinese Party Secretary Xi Jinping, are watching closely, and will no doubt celebrate if these cuts turn out to be permanent.
mandag 14. juli 2025
Chinese Activists Are in Shock over Cuts to U.S. Human Rights Programs
On April 22, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a wide-ranging reorganization of the State Department. Though the details of the restructuring have yet to be published, it seems clear that human rights will be downgraded, and a number of staff positions related to human rights and other key thematic concerns will be cut. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) was singled out for particular scorn by Secretary Rubio: He falsely labeled it a “platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas,” and claimed that it pursued “radical causes at taxpayer expense.”
The move was just the latest in a series of efforts, many of them initiated by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to downsize or eliminate key instruments of American human rights diplomacy, some of which have been around for decades, and whose track record is very strong. Unless these moves are quickly reversed, the U.S. government will lack the tools it needs to formulate and implement a serious human rights policy. Authoritarian leaders around the world, including Chinese Party Secretary Xi Jinping, are watching closely, and will no doubt celebrate if these cuts turn out to be permanent.
The move was just the latest in a series of efforts, many of them initiated by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to downsize or eliminate key instruments of American human rights diplomacy, some of which have been around for decades, and whose track record is very strong. Unless these moves are quickly reversed, the U.S. government will lack the tools it needs to formulate and implement a serious human rights policy. Authoritarian leaders around the world, including Chinese Party Secretary Xi Jinping, are watching closely, and will no doubt celebrate if these cuts turn out to be permanent.
