The Guardian: U.S. reframing of human rights harms women and LGBT people, advocates say
“Mike Pompeo has stepped up his campaign to change the U.S. approach to human rights, reframing them as ‘unalienable rights’ rooted in American traditions, with a particular emphasis on religious freedom. Since establishing a commission on unalienable rights, made up mostly of religious conservatives, the secretary of state has had its report formally adopted by the State Department on 26 August, despite widespread objections from human rights groups. Those groups argue that Pompeo’s approach establishes a hierarchy of rights, downgrading the status of issues like women’s right to reproductive health and LGBTQ+ rights to a second, optional tier. They also point out that it legitimizes claims by authoritarian regimes that rights are based in national traditions…” (Borger, 9/17).