Instead, the report was discussed in an on-background conference call with reporters by a "senior administration official."
Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.), co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, noted this in his April statement on the administration's record in promoting human rights.
"I am concerned at the muted attention the administration has given so far on human rights," he said, noting "the downplayed release of the State Department's human rights report."
"Promoting trade and economic and military cooperation are all essential to America's future – but these mean little if we ignore the people in countries around the world who are suffering at the hands of their own governments and their rights are being abused," he continued, in a statement made weeks before Tillerson's May 4 speech.
The concerns come at a time when some are trying to ratchet up international attention on human rights abuses. The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, for instance, launched its Prisoners of Conscience Project earlier this spring, drawing attention to the plight of those detained, tortured, or killed by foreign governments because of their religious beliefs.
The commission hopes that the project will attract the attention of the public, but also of lawmakers who can ask to visit these prisoners when they travel abroad. "Public inattention can often lead to more persecution," the commission's chair, Fr. Thomas Reese, stated at the launch of the project.
Yet religious freedom advocates are also worried about the direction of the State Department. Everett issued a response to Tillerson's speech on May 23, explaining how important the promotion of international religious freedom is to U.S. national security interests.
"When we disregard the brutality of religious persecution, the world becomes more dangerous for all," he said.
As an example of this, he pointed out that "fifteen of the nineteen terrorists on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. All were Islamist extremists who believed violence is an acceptable tool to achieve their goals of global adherence to their strict religious laws."
"Is it a coincidence that these men came from a nation where there is no religious freedom?" he asked.
Not all State Department actions have received criticism from human rights advocates. On April 4, the administration announced it would stop supporting the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) because of its support for China's coercive two-child policy, which was for years a one-child policy until 2015.
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China's forced family-planning policy has resulted in massive human rights abuses like forced abortions and sterilizations of women. The UNFPA "gave China's brutally enforced population control policies the international stamp of approval," Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chair of the House panel on global human rights, stated.
Smith applauded the administration's decision to stop funding the UNFPA.
"I am heartened by the Trump Administration's early action to apply Kemp-Kasten and end U.S. support for this most egregious human rights violation," Smith said of the action. The Kemp-Kasten Amendment allows the President to decide not to fund entities that engage in forced abortions or sterilizations.
Others are trying to inform and push the administration to recognize the importance of religious freedom to U.S. diplomacy. The Religious Freedom Institute released a March report with recommendations for the U.S. government.
"The President should state clearly and often that U.S. IRF policy will be a national security and minority rights priority for his administration," the report stated.
It also asked the President to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom soon, and for Congress to support the new ambassador by making sure he or she has the proper resources and staff within the State Department.