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The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs (DRL) is a bureau within the
United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
. The bureau is under the purview of the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. DRL's responsibilities include promoting
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
around the world, formulating U.S.
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
policies, and coordinating policy in human rights-related labor issues. The
Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism The Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism (formerly the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism) is an office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights at the United States Department of S ...
is a separate agency included in the Bureau. The Bureau is responsible for producing annual reports on the countries of the world with regard to
religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
through its Office of International Religious Freedom and
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
. It also administers the U.S. Human Rights and Democracy Fund (HRDF), which is DRL’s flagship program. The head of the Bureau is the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and the official currently acting in this capacity is Lisa. J. Peterson. The bureau was formerly known as the Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, but was reorganized and renamed in 1994, to reflect both a broader sweep and a more focused approach to the interlocking issues of human rights, worker rights, and democracy. Examples of DRL's human rights advocacy in foreign locations include China, the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
, and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
. From 2011 to 2015, DRL provided financial support to the
Tor network Tor, short for The Onion Router, is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network, consisting of more than seven thousand relays, to co ...
(The Onion Router).


Organization

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor is divided into twelve unique offices. *Office of Country Reports and Asylum Affairs – Prepares the State Department's annual reports, including the Country Reports on Human Rights * Office of International Religious Freedom – Supports the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom *Office of Policy Planning and Public Diplomacy *Office for Africa – Monitors human rights in Africa *Office for East Asia and the Pacific – Monitors human rights in East Asia *Office for Near East Asia – Monitors human rights in the Middle East *Office for Western Hemisphere – Monitors human rights in Latin America *Office for South Central Asia – Monitors human rights in Central Asia *Office of Global Programming *Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs – Formulates and implements U.S. government policy on human rights in multilateral organizations, including the UN Human Rights Council, the
UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Cur ...
, the
UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, ...
, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
, the Organization of American States, the
African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of member states of the African Union, 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling fo ...
, and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, mi ...
*Office of International Labor Rights – Advises on policies and initiatives in tandem with the
International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
*Executive Office


References


External links


Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
official website
HumanRights.govOfficial page on FacebookBureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
on
AllGov.com David Wallechinsky (born David Wallace, February 5, 1948) is an American populist historian and television commentator, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and the founder and editor-in-chief of AllGov.com and ...
United States labor law DRL Human rights organizations based in the United States Government agencies established in 1977 {{US-gov-stub