Sen. Marco Rubio: U.S. must do more to defend human rights around the world

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor released the 2022 Human Rights Report, an annual study which examines internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights.

As tensions continue to grow in Eastern Europe and in the South China Sea, the report warned that authoritarian governments “have unjustly jailed, tortured, or even killed political opponents, activists, human rights defenders, or journalists, including in Russia, the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, and Syria.”

Although the report claims that, “the Biden Administration has put human rights at the center of U.S. domestic and foreign policy,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio issued a statement warning that the U.S. must do more to protect rights across the globe – especially when so many authoritarian leaders are challenging the liberal world order.  

Referencing Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, Rubio said that “Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked and bloody invasion of Ukraine put the horrors of human rights abuse on full display.”

“Under Putin’s direction, Russian forces have committed countless war crimes and murdered thousands of innocent civilians. Inside Russia, Putin continues his merciless crackdown on political opponents and members of civil society. Dissenting voices, such as Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza, are silenced by brutal and unjust means.”

The Florida senator also warned that the Chinese Communist Party was a threat to human rights around the world.

“The CCP’s refusal to condemn Putin’s invasion is not surprising, given its persecution of various ethnic and religious groups, crackdown on civil society, and international bullying,” he said.  

“Beijing continues to obliterate Hong Kong’s basic freedoms, denies Tibetans their culture and religion, punishes Falun Gong practitioners, and is committing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.”

Rubio also said that the United States must work to protect basic rights in the Western Hemisphere, warning that the dictatorships in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were undermining progress in the region.

“As tyrants in our hemisphere maintain their illegitimate grip on power by subjecting their citizens to unimaginable hardships, the U.S. must reaffirm its unwavering support for the victims and not the oppressors. The dictatorships in Havana, Caracas, and Managua have maintained their posture of repressing, censuring, detaining, jailing, and forcing into exile those who oppose their despotic rule.”