Summary
With the reorganization of the Department of State, Secretary Rubio’s vision for U.S. human rights policy has taken a drastic and dangerous turn. After establishing an “Office of Natural Rights” within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), the State Department is poised to elevate a new, limited set of rights they see as God-given and enumerated within U.S. founding documents, particularly the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, rather than those enshrined in international human rights law.
This framework is designed to create divisions within the longstanding human rights framework and negate the rights of certain peoples – particularly those from marginalized populations – or types of rights as political and partisan efforts that defy a supposed moral order. The ramifications of this shift dismantle universal claims to human rights, undermine U.S. credibility, and embolden the world’s worst human rights abusers.