• by Ali Gharib (washington)
• Wednesday, January 14, 2009
• Inter Press Service

As human rights abuses continue around the world, global power shifts have created new coalitions that often successfully seek to deflect criticisms of their own and their allies' human rights records, says the comprehensive annual report issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

But even against that daunting backdrop, the dawning of a new era in the U.S. could herald a renaissance for the human rights movement, the group said.

Last year was a troubling one for defenders of human rights, according to the 2009 World Report released Wednesday. As atrocities went on, in some instances completely unabated, 2009 saw a shift where traditionally powerful Western democracies lost many rights battles to new, well-organised blocs of detractors.

But with President-elect Barack Obama set to take office next Tuesday, the U.S. could clean up its act at home and regain the leverage and moral high ground needed to take the initiative internationally, said the report's introduction, authored by HRW's executive director, Kenneth Roth.

'For the first time in nearly a decade,' said Roth in a press statement accompanying the report, 'the U.S. has a chance to regain its global credibility by turning the page on the abusive policies of the [outgoing Pres. George W.] Bush administration.'

Indeed, with the leadership of traditionally pro-rights Western democracies having significantly diminished, most of the clamor in the rights world has been coming from governments in the global South and the East. But instead of focusing on ending rights abuses, said the report, they focus on thwarting international efforts to hold abusers accountable and stave off atrocities.

'Today,' said Roth's introduction, 'those conducting the most energetic diplomacy on human rights are likely to reside in such places as Algiers, Cairo, or Islamabad, with backing from Beijing and Moscow. The problem is that they are pushing the wrong direction.'

While many of the regimes in those countries seek to cover up their own abuses, however, their voice is only given weight by the considerable support they receive from countries that purport to uphold and promote human rights.

What Roth terms 'misguided' and 'callous solidarity' with fellow Southern countries and former colonies has created a coalition that strongly opposes the efforts of international institutions to press neighbours and allies into action.

These 'spoilers' often 'invoke Southern solidarity, but behind the lofty rhetoric, the solidarity they have in mind is with repressive governments, not their Southern victims,' said the report, noting that the most egregious offenders often keep away from the international system entirely or are shielded from it by supporters and allies with either milder abusers or interests at stake.

Most 'disappointing' to Roth are cases like South Africa, which, though a large democracy that pays lip-service to human rights and itself emerged from the stormy days of apartheid with the help of the international community, nonetheless blocks scrutiny of regimes like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, which South Africa sees as inheriting the anti-colonial mantle.

The report, however, is quick to point out that while some Southern nations have less than ideal track records defending human rights, many others have emerged as leaders in the field. Cited specifically is Latin America, where 'the governments of Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay have consistently supported human rights initiatives,' as have numerous African players.

Furthermore, blame for the anti-rights activism on the international stage cannot be laid solely at the feet of Southern nations and their backers like Russia and China. Indeed, the U.S. has played a major role in undermining the human rights regime due to the policies of the Bush administration.

First and foremost, 'because the most effective human rights advocacy is by example,' the U.S. has damaged its reputation and weight in the international rights realm due to its own demons in cases like the military prisons in Guantanamo Bay and other secret locations, 'renditions' or forced disappearances of suspects, and policies of harsh interrogations that many rights experts consider torture.

Seeking to take the teeth out of criticisms as they 'subvert human rights', offending governments will also 'cite Western double standards in promoting rights -- a deplorable reality, but irrelevant to the plight of the victim,' writes Roth.

The Bush administration has also pursued a policy of 'hyper-sovereignty' -- emphasising the right of nations to rule within their own borders -- both by supporting allies on these grounds and by using the notion to defend its own misdeeds and unilateralism. The result is 'music to the ears' of Russia, China and India, as it bolsters their own rebuttals of criticism with the same argument.

'Sovereignty' has also contributed to U.S. support for nations which it sees as helpful to its interests, leading to billions upon billions of dollar in U.S. aid to human rights abusers like Pakistan and Ethiopia.

Based partly on its 'sovereignty' claims, the U.S. has also balked at committing to international institutions set up to protect human rights -- an absence that Southern spoilers have again used to shield their allies and interests.

The Bush administration backed out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and has failed to participate in the new U.N. Human Rights Council, the 'leading governmental body on human rights'.

But the Bush administration will be out of power in less than a week, and the incoming president offers a potential U.S. renewal of both legitimacy and leadership in human rights, with Roth emphasising the restoration of legitimacy first.

'The Obama administration must undo the enormous damage cause by the Bush administration and begin to restore the U.S. government's reputation and effectiveness as a human rights defender,' he wrote. 'Changing U.S. policy on how to fight terrorism is an essential place to start that.'

That means closing secret prisons and Guantanamo, and, importantly, pursuing charges against the most serious offenders of human rights within U.S. borders.

'The crime of torture is a very serious crime,' said Roth at an event here launching the report, 'and the people who authored it should be prosecuted.' He said it would be the only way to 'repudiate [torture] as a precedent'.

Roth also said that Obama should 'abandon exceptionalism'; re-sign the ICC; run the U.S. as a candidate for the U.N. Human Rights Council, which the U.S. hadn't done, alleged the report, due to an 'arrogant approach to multilateral institutions' and out of fear of an embarrassing failure to get elected; and sign up for key treaties such as those on women's and children's rights, bans on certain munitions, and 'enforced disappearances'.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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