The annual Department of State Human Rights Report (HRR) is a somewhat erratic harbinger of spring. Officially designated the “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices—2018,” the report, mandated by Congress, is technically due for delivery to the Hill by Feb. 25. Such date, however, has been more honored in the breach than in precise chronological adherence.
The HRR is disingenuously portrayed as a technical exercise addressing a panoply of human rights activities and violations in roughly 200 countries and territories, identifying abuses without fear or favor, regardless of violators being allies or opponents.
