The United States (US) raised serious concerns about ongoing human rights violations of extrajudicial killings, harassment of media and journalists and slow progress of key cases related to past alleged human rights violations in the country, a key Rights report released today said.
The 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued by the US State Department noted that the government took minimal steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses as well.
“Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; involuntary or coercive medical or psychological practices; arbitrary arrest or detention; transnational repression against individuals in another country; and serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence and threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests of journalists, and censorship,” the report stressed.
The report also noted that there were several reports that the “government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings during the year”. There were multiple deaths in police custody; many occurred when police took suspects to the alleged crime scene as part of an investigation or claimed suspects attacked them during interrogation or tried to escape, it alleged.
On freedom of the press, the report noted that even though a country's Constitution provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, “the government sometimes restricted this right,”
“In its report on the human rights situation in the country, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) observed a persistent trend of surveillance, intimidation, and harassment of journalists and civil society actors, especially those working on enforced disappearances, land seizures, environmental issues, and with former combatants in the north and east,”
The full report can be accessed here
The State Department is proposing requiring applicants for business and tourist visas to post a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the United States, a move that may make the process unaffordable for many, foreign media reported.
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