Safeguarding the Integrity of the Human Rights Reports Act of 2025

This bill strengthens the State Department’s yearly human rights reports so they are thorough, fact-based, and free from political pressure. It sets a clear policy to regularly listen to human rights defenders, journalists, and victims, and to publish reports every year that cover the full range of internationally recognized rights without favoritism or targeting . It expands what must be reported, including limits on internet freedom and access to information; restrictions on movement; interference with privacy; unfair elections and crackdowns on peaceful assembly; shrinking space for civil society, media, labor, and academia; serious government corruption; and abuse or discrimination against women and girls, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQI+ people, and vulnerable migrants. It also requires reporting on coercive medical or psychological practices, problems accessing maternal, sexual, and reproductive health care (including obstetric violence and coerced abortion, pregnancy, or sterilization), political prisoners, and deadly or abusive prison conditions. The reports must also note when families are harassed for the alleged actions of a relative, even one forced into exile . The findings stress that weakening these reports harms the United States’ credibility and puts people fighting for rights at greater risk .

• Who is affected: People and groups at risk of rights abuses worldwide; advocates, journalists, and scholars who rely on accurate reporting; U.S. officials who use the reports to guide policy and protect taxpayer funds from going to abusers .
• What changes: Broader, mandatory topics and clearer standards to keep reports comprehensive and non-political .
• When: Every year, as part of the State Department’s annual human rights reports .