Annual U.S. Human Rights Report silent on the right to freedom of expression

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

August 14, 2025

HRRC calls for the U.S. State Department to reinstate analysis of freedom of expression, as well as LGBTQ+ rights and minority rights, in its future annual country reports. HRRC expresses deep concern on what appears to be political influence on the report’s findings, including the omission of human rights and freedom of speech abuses in El Salvador.  

[Image source: Legal Desire]

As the ability for citizens to speak freely is under threat around the world, the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices has gone silent on the right to freedom of expression, even as it singles out countries for infringing on “free speech” through laws aiming to limit hate speech online.

The annual report, released on Tuesday, August 12, also omits several other rights included in previous reports, including references to violence against against minority groups, LGBTQ+ rights, and government corruption. 

Under the new section of the report entitled “Liberty,” references to the right to a free press and for journalists to report without coercion or intimidation are included. But other rights outlined as recently as last year’s report, including the right to peaceful assembly and the right of freedom of expression for LGBTQ+ people and other groups who are discriminated against, are noticeably absent. 

Instead, reports on countries like Brazil and the United Kingdom condemn efforts to restrict hate speech and disinformation, citing them as violating freedom of speech. In the United Kingdom, the report signals out “Public Spaces Protections Orders,” which prohibit public expressions of hateful rhetoric against persons based on their color, race, ethnic origin, religion, or sexual orientation, as infringing on the right to free expression.

In Brazil, the report calls into question orders by the country’s Supreme Court that have removed the content of people spreading disinformation of the country’s electoral or judicial system, saying the orders “restricted the freedom of expression for individuals it deemed to be in violation of the law prohibiting antidemocratic speech.”

El Salvador, whose President, Nayib Bukele, is friendly with U.S. President Donald Trump, is comparatively let off the hook. For example, the report says El Salvador’s constitution provides for “freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, and the government generally respected this right,” even as journalists, opposition lawmakers, and human rights activists say they are fleeing the country under pressure from the government. 

The report occurs as freedom of expression is increasingly under attack in the United States. Among other measures, the Trump administration has pressured media companies and defunded federal funding of colleges and universities in response to pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. These efforts and others have been described as infringing on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of speech.

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Glossary 

• Antidemocratic speech – speech that questions the validity of democratic systems, including elections, the court system, or even democracy itself. 

• Coercion – using threats or intimidation to compel a given action.

• Condemn – express disapproval of.

• Disinformation – information spread, often online, with the intent to deliberately confuse or mislead people.

• Freedom of expression – similar to freedom of speech, but includes broader protections including the right to peacefully assemble or protest. 

• Freedom of speech – the right to express opinions, including those critical of the government, without fear of retaliation.

• Hate speech – speech that encourages violence towards certain ethnic, religious, sexual, racial or national groups. 

• Infringe – violates or encroaches on.

• Omission – deliberately leaving out.

• Rhetoric – speech.

• Right to peaceful assembly – the right to gather and protest peacefully without fear of being attacked. 

• Violation – fails to comply with.