Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
The Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor is the head of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor reports to the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, 1976—1993
| Name | Assumed Office | Left Office | President served under |
| James M. Wilson, Jr. | November 29, 1976 | April 28, 1977 | Gerald Ford |
| Patricia M. Derian | August 17, 1977 | January 19, 1981 | Jimmy Carter |
| Elliott Abrams | December 12, 1981 | July 17, 1985 | Ronald Reagan |
| Richard Schifter | October 31, 1985 | April 3, 1992 | Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush |
| Patricia Diaz Dennis | August 24, 1992 | January 20, 1993 | George H. W. Bush |
While Ernest W. Lefever was nominated for the office by Reagan in 1981, his nomination was rejected by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and he withdrew from consideration.
List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 1993—Present
| Name | Assumed Office | Left Office | President served under |
| John Shattuck | June 2, 1993 | November 13, 1998 | Bill Clinton |
| Harold Hongju Koh | November 13, 1998 | January 20, 2001 | Bill Clinton |
| Lorne Craner | June 4, 2001 | July 31, 2004 | George W. Bush |
| Barry Lowenkron | Oct 14, 2005 | August 28, 2007 | George W. Bush |
| David J. Kramer | March 21, 2008 | January 20, 2009 | George W. Bush |
| Michael H. Posner | September 23, 2009 | March 8, 2013 | Barack Obama |
| Uzra Zeya | March 8, 2013 | April 3, 2014 | Barack Obama |
| Tom Malinowski | April 3, 2014 | January 20, 2017 | Barack Obama |
| Virginia Bennett | January 20, 2017 | November 30, 2017 | Donald Trump |
| Robert Destro | September 23, 2019 | Incumbent | Donald Trump |
On June 20, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated , a human rights advocate, a civil rights attorney with expertise in elections and employment law, a professor at the Columbus School of Law, and the current director of the at The Catholic University of America, to fill this position.