Washington (May 15, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today joined Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and 12 of their colleagues in pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the Administration’s retreat from longstanding efforts to promote human rights and democracy worldwide. In their letter, the Senators stress that dismantling offices and scaling back reports focused on human rights conditions, among other actions, threaten the United States’ credibility and moral authority — strategic assets that help us advance peace, prosperity, and security at home and around the world. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) cosigned the letter. 

“We write with grave concerns regarding ongoing moves at the State Department to abandon U.S. leadership on human rights. Demoting the department’s standalone human rights and democracy bureau, shutting down many of its offices, and severely scaling back the annual human rights reports would undermine America’s standing as a champion for human rights globally. A foreign policy rooted in American values, including support for human rights, is about more than just moral leadership – it is about using our influence to create a more peaceful and prosperous world where U.S. national security interests can flourish,” the Senators began.

The Senators quote Secretary Rubio’s previous statements on this issue, writing, “Mr. Secretary, you yourself have said: ‘For over two centuries, the world has been a better place because America has strived to defend these fundamental human rights both at home and abroad. The State Department’s annual human rights report sheds light on foreign governments’ failure to respect their citizens’ fundamental rights.’”

The Senators go on to note several of the harmful proposed changes put forward by the State Department, including relegating the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, sunsetting of the Office of Global Criminal Justice, and politicizing the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

“The proposed changes to gut the State Department's standalone human rights bureau and to emaciate and politicize the United States' signature human rights reports – alongside dramatic cuts to U.S. funding to advance freedom and democracy – are a retreat from America’s global leadership to advance freedom in the world. America’s standing as a champion for human rights globally relies on a commitment to holding friends and foes alike accountable to the same standards. When the United States conveniently wields human rights principles as a political cudgel against our adversaries, but does not apply those same standards to our allies, countries like China and Russia are quick to point out such hypocrisy, and American influence on the world stage drops precipitously. Making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous requires embracing human rights as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy and dedicating resources to support that cause,” the Senators concluded.

The full text of the letter is available HERE.

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