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2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices [1]

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Date: 2024-04 

Acts of Congress mandate the annual submission of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The Country Reports cover internationally recognized human rights, including those set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments, as well as worker rights. These include its prohibition on torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and prohibitions on arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and other violations or abuses of the right to life, liberty, and the security of person. They also include certain other rights, such as the right of peaceful assembly and the rights to freedom of expression, association, and religion or belief.

Furthermore, the reports cover key internationally recognized worker rights issues, as required in the Trade Act of 1974, such as the right to freedom of association, the right to bargain collectively, the prohibition of forced or compulsory labor, the status of child labor practices, the minimum age for employment of children, discrimination with respect to employment, and acceptable work conditions.

The Country Reports rely on information available from a wide variety of credible sources, including foreign government officials; victims of alleged human rights abuses; academic and congressional studies; and reports from media, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Particularly helpful for citation are domestic and international NGOs. The Country Reports cover human rights practices in foreign countries and territories worldwide. They do not describe or assess the human rights implications of actions taken by the U.S. government or its representatives.

To comply with the congressional requirement for reporting on human rights practices, the Department of State provides guidance to U.S. diplomatic missions annually by July for submission of updated reports in September and October. The Department of State updates these texts by year’s end. Multiple concerned bureaus and offices in the Department of State provide contributions, and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor prepares a final draft of each country report. The U.S. Department of Labor contributes to material in section 7 on worker rights (see appendix B for more detail).

The Department of State strives to make the Country Reports comprehensive, objective, and uniform in scope. We seek a high standard of consistency in the reports, despite the multiplicity of sources and the diversity of countries covered. For purposes of focus and streamlining, the reports select illustrative examples of alleged abuses or violations and follow up in most instances only on the previous year’s high-profile unresolved allegations.

In recent years, the Department of State’s annual instructions on the update of the Country Reports removed the requirement that information be provided even when no abuse or violation was alleged. This change allowed the reports to increase the focus on reported violations and abuses. An example is information on prison conditions when there have not been allegations of conditions amounting to human rights violations or abuses. If there has been no allegation concerning, for example, the unavailability of potable water in a prison, then the report need not include information on that condition. If, however, an allegation is made regarding the absence of potable water, that allegation would raise concerns regarding prison conditions amounting to a human rights violation or abuse and would thus be mentioned.

The Department of State’s annual instructions sharpened the focus on reports of violations and abuses of internationally recognized human rights, and each government’s actions regarding such violations and abuses. For example, the executive summary of each report is sharply focused on credible reports of significant violations and abuses of internationally recognized human rights. These include reports of extrajudicial killing, torture, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, and serious restrictions on freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and religion or belief, as well as bias-motivated crimes of violence and similar abuses. The summary does not include many other common issues, such as overcrowding in prisons and societal discrimination, but these matters continue to be covered in the body of the reports.

As in 2022, there is attention to reporting threats and violence against human rights defenders, particularly those exercising their civil and political rights to advocate for the environment and land as well as for Indigenous peoples’ rights.

In 2023, some section numbers are different than in 2022. For example, “Transnational Repression” is now its own section, 1.f., consisting of five subsections on politically motivated reprisal against individuals located outside the country. “Property Seizure and Restitution” is also now its own section, 1.g. In section 1.h., “Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence,” the 2023 reports include information about the use of technology to arbitrarily or unlawfully surveil or interfere with the privacy of individuals (e.g., citizens, civil society, journalists, members of minority groups).

The 2023 report deletes “Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies” in Section 1 and “Restrictions on Academic Freedom and Cultural Events” in Section 2. Related human rights abuses and violations continue to be covered in other sections of the report, as applicable.

For 2023, section 6 continues to contain information on abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex individuals, while deleting “Sexual Harassment” (now part of “Other Forms of Gender-based Violence or Harassment),” “Gender-based Sex Selection,” and “Displaced Children” as distinct sections.

While the reports continue to report on societal conditions, including discrimination, that can affect the enjoyment of internationally recognized human rights, we have reduced the amount of statistical data in the subsections of the report illustrating those conditions. In the age of the internet, the underlying data are generally available.

Evaluating the credibility of reports of human rights violations and abuses remains difficult. Most governments and opposition groups deny they commit human rights violations or abuses and occasionally go to great lengths to conceal any wrongdoing. There may be few eyewitnesses to specific alleged violations or abuses. Frequently, eyewitnesses are intimidated or prevented from reporting what they know. On the other hand, individuals and groups opposed to a government may have incentive to exaggerate or fabricate abuses. In similar fashion, some governments may distort or exaggerate abuses attributed to opposition groups. The Department of State seeks to identify those groups (for example, government forces) or individuals for whom available, credible evidence indicates probable involvement in human rights violations or abuses or other problematic conduct.

Many governments that profess to respect human rights may in fact secretly order or tacitly condone violations or abuses. Consequently, the Country Reports look beyond statements of policy or intent to examine reports of what a government did, or did not do, to protect human rights and promote accountability, including the extent to which the government investigated, brought to trial, or punished those responsible for any violations or abuses.

The Country Reports describe facts relevant to human rights concerns as reported by the sources identified above. Notwithstanding terms that may be used in them, the Country Reports do not state or reach legal conclusions with respect to domestic or international law.

Occasionally a report may state that a country “generally respected” the rights of individuals. The Department of State uses the phrase “generally respected” because the protection and promotion of human rights is a dynamic endeavor. It cannot be stated with absolute accuracy that any government always respects these rights without qualification, even in the best of circumstances. Accordingly, reports use “generally respected” as a phrase to describe countries that attempt to fully protect and promote human rights.

Because the Secretary of State designates foreign groups or organizations as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) on the Department of State FTO list, the reports describe as “terrorists” only those groups on the current FTO list.

The following notes on specific parts of each country report provide an overview of the key problems covered, but they are not intended to be comprehensive descriptions.

Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings: Includes killings ordered by governments or committed by governments without fair trial guarantees, including when there is evidence of a political motivation. This subsection also includes illustrative, well-known examples of killings by police or security forces and deaths that resulted from excessive use of force or other abuses of human rights, including as it relates to equal protection of law.

While the subsection generally excludes combat deaths and killings by nonstate actors, it does cover killings by such actors as opposition groups or terrorists or widespread killings by criminal groups. Killings by terrorist or other nongovernmental groups are covered following the description of government abuses. In optional section 1.i., used for countries engaged in conflict, the reports cover allegations of civilian casualties, detention-related abuses, including torture, and other abuses by the government’s armed forces or other state organs or by nonstate armed groups operating within that state.

Disappearance: Covers cases in which the government may be involved in the detention, abduction, or disappearance of individuals and refuses to acknowledge the detention of those persons or to account for their whereabouts or fate. This includes cases in which the disappeared person has not been found. Cases eventually classified as killings after the bodies of missing persons are discovered would be covered in the previous section, while those eventually identified as having been arrested or otherwise arbitrarily or unlawfully held in detention may be covered in section 1.d., Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.

Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Other Related Abuses: Covers torture, defined in the Convention against Torture, article 1, as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind.”

The U.S. government understands that the definition of torture is intended to apply only to acts directed against persons in the offender’s custody or physical control. The United States understands that mental pain or suffering refers to prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from:

(1) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;

(2) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;

(3) the threat of imminent death; or

(4) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality.

Cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment is defined in the Convention against Torture, article 16, as acts that do not amount to torture as defined by article 1, when committed by or at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. The U.S. government understands the term “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” to mean the cruel, unusual, and inhuman treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

The subsection discusses reported occurrences without analysis of whether they fit any precise definition, and it includes reported uses of physical and other force that may fall short of torture but may constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. This subsection may include reports of mistreatment that may not constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, it covers prison and detention center conditions and deaths in such facilities due to poor conditions or mistreatment.

Arbitrary Arrest or Detention: Includes reports of cases in which detainees are held arbitrarily or unlawfully, such as being held without being charged or, if charged, without being brought promptly before a judicial authority with power to determine the lawfulness of the detention or without trial within a reasonable time.

Denial of Fair Public Trial: Notes whether there is an independent and impartial judiciary free of corruption and political influence and whether trials are fair and public and afford criminal defendants the minimum fair trial guarantees recognized internationally as necessary for a criminal defense. The subsection Political Prisoners and Detainees covers persons convicted, imprisoned, or detained essentially for political beliefs or nonviolent acts of dissent or expression, particularly based on overly broad and sweeping charges intended to stifle the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Transnational Repression (If applicable): Covers reports of a range of acts, including killings, kidnappings, or violence taken by states against individuals living abroad, especially political opponents, civil society activists, human rights defenders, or journalists, seeking to silence criticism and prevent them from exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms. It also includes credible information regarding a country that, during the year, attempted to misuse international law enforcement tools, such as Interpol systems, for politically motivated reprisals against individuals living outside the country and related efforts by a country to exert bilateral pressure on another country aimed at having that country take adverse action against an individual. Such action could include exerting political pressure for the return of perceived enemies located in other countries.

Property Seizure and Restitution (If applicable): Describes if there is a systemic failure of a government to enforce court orders with respect to restitution or compensation for the taking of private property under domestic law. This subsection is not intended to discuss or evaluate individual claims.

Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence: Covers whether government authorities entered homes without judicial or other appropriate authorization, and whether a government accessed, collected, or used private communications or personal data arbitrarily (such as by targeting individuals based on the exercise of their human rights) or without appropriate legal authority. This section also examines if governments have in place laws, regulations, or practices that enable them to use technology to monitor individuals arbitrarily or unlawfully, and whether any “national security” laws are used by governments to conduct arbitrary or unlawful surveillance. If necessary, this section also reports if informer systems were employed and if authorities punished family members for offenses allegedly committed by their relatives.

Conflict-related Abuses (if applicable): This subsection applies only to countries with reported armed conflicts and describes reported abuses in such situations. It includes reports of unlawful killings and abuses, including torture, of civilians by members of the armed forces or other state organs or by organized nonstate armed groups within the state engaged in the conflict. Any reports of the recruitment or use of child soldiers by either government forces or by other organized nonstate armed groups are discussed in this subsection. Also covered are reports of attacks on health-care facilities, ambulances, and schools, which may not themselves be characterized as human rights abuses as such.

For countries conducting military operations in another country or engaging in peacekeeping operations in another country, the reports note any human rights concerns with the subject country’s activity as well as in the report on the country where the operations took place. As a general matter, conflict-related abuses should not be characterized using the term “violations.”

If there are reports of sexual exploitation or abuse by UN or other multinational peacekeeping forces, these incidents are reported in this subsection. The incidents are included in the report on the country where the alleged abuse occurred. Also included would be investigative and, if appropriate and known, punitive action taken by the peacekeeping troop-contributing country against the alleged perpetrator.

Freedom of Expression, Including for Members of the Press and Other Media: Evaluates whether freedom of expression, including for media members, is respected and describes any direct or indirect restrictions, including censorship and intimidation of journalists. The subsection Internet Freedom includes discussion of monitoring or restrictions on the exercise of freedom of expression online, including the freedom to seek, receive, or impart information, ideas, and opinions.

Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association: Evaluates the ability of individuals, including with others (such as through political parties), to exercise these freedoms. It considers instances of government failure to provide permits or licenses for meetings and demonstrations as well as information on the ability of trade associations, professional bodies, NGOs, and similar groups to register, maintain relations, or affiliate with recognized international bodies in their fields. (Section 7, Worker Rights, discusses the rights of workers to associate, organize, and bargain collectively.)

Freedom of Religion: Provides a hyperlink to the Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report. Information on antisemitism appears in section 6 of the Country Reports under a heading by that name.

Freedom of Movement and the Right to Leave the Country: Discusses whether and under what circumstances governments arbitrarily removed persons from their territory; restricted internal and foreign travel, including for women or members of minority populations; and revoked passports.

Protection of Refugees: As defined in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, refugees generally are persons outside their country of nationality or, if stateless, outside their country of former habitual residence, who are unable or unwilling to return to that country based on a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Under certain regional instruments, such as the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, the term “refugee” may also refer to persons who have fled their country because their lives, safety, or freedom have been threatened by, among other things, generalized violence or internal conflict. The Protection of Refugees section covers abuse and discrimination against refugees and asylum seekers. It also reviews the government’s extension of assistance and protection to refugees, including protection against refoulement, the provision of temporary protection, and support for voluntary repatriation, longer-term integration opportunities, and resettlement in another country.

“Protection against refoulement” refers to whether the government refrained from (1) expelling or returning a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where their life or freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group; or (2) expelling, returning, or extraditing a person to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing that they would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons (if applicable): This optional section is included if there were large numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in a country. It covers the causes of displacement and number of IDPs, restrictions on their movement, targeting of specific groups, and any government failure to provide protection or humanitarian assistance to IDPs. It reports if IDPs suffered abuses of their human rights and whether the government promoted the safe, voluntary, and dignified return, resettlement, or local integration of IDPs.

Stateless Persons (if applicable): This section is included if a country has a significant number of habitual residents who are stateless (not recognized as nationals by any state under the operation of its law). It reviews whether the government has effectively implemented laws and policies to provide such persons the opportunity to gain nationality on a nondiscriminatory basis. The section examines, among other matters, whether there is violence or discrimination against members of resident stateless populations in employment, education, housing, health services, marriage or birth registration, access to courts, or the owning of property.

Elections and Political Participation: Discusses whether citizens had the opportunity, without discrimination or unreasonable restrictions: to vote or to be elected in free and fair elections that are genuine, periodic, based on universal and equal suffrage, and held by secret ballot; to participate in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through chosen representatives; and to have access to public service. The subsection Abuses or Irregularities in Recent Elections and the subsection Participation of Women and Members of Marginalized or Vulnerable Groups assess whether elections were free and fair, including whether women and members of minority groups had the opportunity to participate on the same basis as men or nonminority citizens.

Corruption in Government: Covers allegations of corruption in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government and actions taken to combat it.

Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Monitoring and Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights: Discusses whether the government permits the free functioning of local human rights groups (including by allowing investigations and the publication of the groups’ findings on alleged human rights abuses), whether these groups are subject to retaliation by government or other forces (including for their participation in international forums), and whether government officials are cooperative and responsive to their views. The section also discusses whether the government grants access to and cooperates with outside entities (including foreign human rights organizations, the United Nations and other international organizations, and foreign governments) interested in human rights developments in the country. It reports on national human rights commissions, parliamentary commissions, and relations with international human rights organizations.

Discrimination and Societal Abuses: Contains subsections on Women; Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination; Children; Antisemitism; Trafficking in Persons; Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics; and Persons with Disabilities. It also includes optional subsections on Indigenous Peoples, Forced Organ Harvesting, and Other Societal Violence or Discrimination. The Other Societal Violence or Discrimination subsection addresses abuses and discrimination not discussed elsewhere in the report, focusing on violence or threats of violence against such individuals and laws, regulations, and state practices denying or impeding equal access to employment, education, health care, or other governmental benefits for members of specific groups.

Reluctance to report abuse against women; children; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex (LGBTQI+) persons; persons with disabilities; and members of other groups, is often a factor in the underreporting of abuses. To avoid being repetitive, we do not make this point every time we cover a particular issue, but readers should be aware that it is a significant factor in these kinds of abuses in all countries and cultures. (The Country Reports address allegations of abuses by government or opposition forces, such as killing, torture and other violence, or restriction of voting rights or freedom of expression that discriminate against specific groups, under the appropriate preceding sections).

Women: Discusses violence against women, such as domestic violence, rape, female genital mutilation/cutting, dowry deaths, and “honor killings.” Information is included on any government tolerance of, or efforts to prevent, such practices, as well as the extent to which women have access to equality of economic opportunity and protection from discrimination and sexual harassment. A subsection on reproductive rights covers maternal health issues such as maternal mortality, government discrimination or coercion in reproductive health care, unequal access to skilled health care during pregnancy and childbirth, access to emergency health care, and discrimination against women in accessing sexual and reproductive health care, including for sexually transmitted infections.

Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination: This subsection, introduced in 2021, covers a country’s laws to protect members of racial or ethnic minorities or groups from violence and discrimination and whether the government enforced them effectively. It reports governmental or societal violence or discrimination against members of racial, ethnic, or national minorities and official action to investigate, prosecute, and punish persons complicit in violence and abuses, whether by state or nonstate actors. The section also describes government actions to mitigate factors, such as poverty, unemployment, and societal racial and ethnic biases, that contributed to the problem and, if possible, estimates their adequacy and effectiveness.

Children: Discusses child abuse, child, early and forced marriage, and sexual exploitation of children. As applicable, it also addresses birth registration, access to education, and access to medical care.

Antisemitism: Covers reports of antisemitic activity and the government’s response. Section 2.c. on freedom of religion provides a hyperlink to the most recent International Religious Freedom Report, which contains material on antisemitism.

Trafficking in Persons: This section contains a hyperlink to the Department of State’s most recent Trafficking in Persons Report.

Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics: Notes laws and policies criminalizing and punishing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults and cross-dressing, including whether these laws and policies were enforced, as well as discrimination against persons engaging in such conduct, including through vague laws covering immorality. The subsection takes note of legislative and other progress towards the full enjoyment of human rights by LGBTQI+ persons. It also addresses violence and other abusive acts by state and nonstate actors targeting LGBTQI+ persons such as “corrective rape,” so-called conversion therapy practices, and unnecessary surgical procedures. The subsection reports on discrimination by state and nonstate actors against LGBTQI+ persons. It documents the targeting of LGBTQI+ NGOs and human rights defenders and restrictions on the exercise of freedoms of peaceful assembly, association, and expression with respect to LGBTQI+ issues.

Persons with Disabilities: Covers discrimination against persons with physical, mental, or intellectual disabilities in, among other things, access to public buildings, employment, education, housing, health care, and the provision of other government services.

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