The U.S. Department of State will host a Facebook Q&A on human rights with Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Uzra Zeya on Friday, February 28 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST.

On February 27, 2014, Secretary Kerry submitted the 2013 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (commonly known as the Human Rights Reports) to the United States Congress. The reports, now in their 38th year, are available on 2009-2017.state.gov and www.humanrights.gov.

Mandated by Congress, the Human Rights Reports help inform U.S. Government policy and foreign assistance and serve as a reference for other governments, international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, legal professionals, scholars, interested citizens, and journalists.

This Facebook Q&A is an opportunity for the public to ask their own questions directly about the reports, which can be found at 2009-2017.state.gov or www.humanrights.gov.

Acting Assistant Secretary Zeya will answer questions live on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usdos. Questions can be submitted in advance using the hashtag #HumanRights on the Department of State’s Facebook page, Google+ page and on Twitter by mentioning @StateDept.

The conversation will be promoted on the Facebook Government and Politics Page as part of Facebook’s “Open Dialogue Series,” a Q&A series aimed at connecting officials and policymakers with the public in real-time, two-way discussions about the most pressing issues facing our nation.