Blinken blasts the Trump administration's 'unbalanced' emphasis on religious liberty over other human rights

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WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday slammed the Trump administration for creating a "hierarchy" of human rights that placed religious liberty and property rights above other fundamental freedoms.

"Human rights are also co-equal. There is no hierarchy that makes some rights more important than others," Blinken told reporters as the State Department unveiled its 45th annual report on the status of human rights around the world.

He called the Trump administration's framework "unbalanced" and said he had disbanded the "Commission on Unalienable Rights," set up by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in what critics viewed as pandering to religious conservatives in the United States.

Pompeo had derided what he called a "proliferation of rights" and said the U.S. needed to focus on "foundational, unalienable rights," naming religious freedom and property rights as "foremost."

Pompeo's commission came under intense fire from human rights advocates, who said it was a means to overriding or neglecting women's reproductive freedoms and the rights of LGBTQ people.

"At my confirmation hearing, I promised that the Biden-Harris Administration would repudiate those unbalanced views. We do so decisively today," Blinken said in touting Biden administration's first country-by-country assessment of human rights.

Human rights concerns grow amid pandemic

Blinken said the report, which covered abuses in 2020, shows the "trend lines on human rights continue to move in the wrong direction" and that was exacerbated by the pandemic. The report says some governments used the COVID-19 crisis "as a pretext to restrict rights and consolidate authoritarian rule.”

"Women and children faced heightened risk as the prevalence of gender-based and domestic violence increased due to lockdowns and the loss of traditional social protections," the report concludes. "Other marginalized populations, including older persons, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQI+ persons, experienced particular vulnerability."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks about the release of the '2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,' at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks about the release of the '2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,' at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, March 30, 2021.

In his remarks, Blinken also vowed to reverse the Trump administration's controversial decision to exclude data on women's reproductive health around the globe. The Trump administration's annual human rights reports omitted data on discrimination against women, maternal mortality rates and women's access to contraception, among other information.

Blinken said those issues were not addressed in Tuesday's report because of the Trump administration's directive. But he said he has asked the State Department staff to produce an addendum later this year addressing those issues.

"It's one of many steps ... we're taking to promote women's health and equity at home and abroad," Blinken said, "because women's rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, are human rights."

Report details China's actions against Uyghurs

Tuesday's report does include the most detailed official American assessment that China is engaged in genocide against the Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority living in its western Xinjiang region.

The report says China has engaged in "mass detention" of more than 1 million Uyghurs and other members of predominantly Muslim minority groups and has subjected another 2 million people in Xinjiang to “re-education” training in less severe settings.

The report says China has also subjected the Uyghurs to forced sterilization, rape, torture and forced labor, as well as "draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement."

The report outlines human rights abuses in nearly 200 countries and territories, from North Korea to Syria. Blinken said there is evidence of a downward slide on human rights in "every region of the world."

Blinken said the State Department report was finished before the military coup unfolded in Burma, "but we must highlight them," pointing to reports that over the weekend, more than 100 people were killed by that country's military, including four children.

A child from the Uyghur community living in Turkey wears a mask during a protest against the visit of China's foreign minister to Turkey, in Istanbul on March 25, 2021.
A child from the Uyghur community living in Turkey wears a mask during a protest against the visit of China's foreign minister to Turkey, in Istanbul on March 25, 2021.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Antony Blinken slams Trump's 'hierarchy' of human rights as skewed