The administration has even worked to hold U.S. allies accountable on religious freedom in the agency's annual human rights report, Pompeo said. For example, the State Department's 2018 report noted abuses in Saudi Arabia including "unlawful killings; executions for nonviolent offenses; forced renditions; forced disappearances; and torture of prisoners and detainees by government agents."
"We identify every single incident where we found some violation of human rights. So we do it; we list our friends," Pompeo said.
Other countries "are watching what we're doing," he said, "they're watching how America does this. They're watching how President Trump addresses this set of issues. And I am convinced that the work we're doing will enhance religious freedom for millions and millions of people around the world."
Pompeo was also asked about the creation of an advisory commission to the State Department on human rights.
He answered that he had long been interested in human rights since he studied just war theory as a soldier, and that his interest was influenced by his evangelical Christian faith.
When he entered the State Department in 2018, however, Pompeo said he saw a lack of "clarity" and "grounding" in human rights at the agency.
The aim of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, he said, is to "lay down with clarity not only what these human rights are, these fundamental rights are, but from what it is they are derived, how we got there." The commission will examine human rights in light of the Declaration of Independence and the UN's 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
"When you see Venezuela get on the Human Rights Council at the UN, it cries out for a re-examination of these fundamental first principles," Pompeo said.
The U.S. issued a critical statement in light of Venezuela's election last week to the UN's Human Rights Council. Mauritania, a country where slavery is still reportedly practiced, was also elected to the Human Rights Council.
Matt Hadro was the political editor at Catholic News Agency through October 2021. He previously worked as CNA senior D.C. correspondent and as a press secretary for U.S. Congressman Chris Smith.