USIA - Shattuck: Annual Reports Deepen Dialogue on Human Rights, 97-01-31

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SHATTUCK TEXT: ANNUAL REPORTS DEEPEN DIALOGUE ON HUMAN RIGHTS

(Promoting human rights through all the tools at our disposal) (2840)

"The spotlight on abuses cast by these reports, backed by the credibility of the U.S., is itself a major boost to the work of human rights advocates, " Shattuck said.

"But casting the spotlight on abuses can only be the first step in our policy," he continued. "Our goal has been, and will continue to be, to use all the tools at our disposal to advance the cause of human rights, democracy and justice."

Shattuck went on to cite the strong bipartisan support that human rights have enjoyed throughout the government. "Human rights diplomacy has proven to be one of the most creative and fruitful instances of collaboration between the legislative and executive branches," he commented, noting that the annual reports have been "but one of the many tools of human rights diplomacy to have emerged from congressional engagement with the issue."

Following is the text of Shattuck's remarks before the House International Affairs Committee, as prepared for delivery:

(Begin text)

Overview -- The Human Rights Reports and U.S. Diplomacy

Indeed, Mr. Chairman, the Country Reports' role in human rights advocacy and diplomacy is far-reaching. To begin with, the thousands of personnel- hours devoted to preparing the report, at our embassies in every corner of the world and here in Washington, serve to concentrate the minds of U.S. diplomats and their foreign counterparts on our commitment to the promotion of human rights, and bring our personnel into ongoing contact with the extraordinary human rights activists in every country whose independent reporting is indispensable to our own. The annual presentation of the Country Reports to host governments extends and deepens a dialogue on human rights in those countries, affords a regular benchmark for progress and a steady reminder of this government's commitment. As Justice Brandeis once observed, the best disinfectant is sunshine, and the spotlight on abuses cast by these reports, backed by the credibility of the United States, is itself a major boost to the work of human rights advocates.

The Country Reports set a factual basis for the formation of our human rights policy. Highlighting abuses is an important first step in our approach. Repressive regimes cringe at criticism. Responsible governments are inclined to recognize their shortcomings and seek remedies. And human rights advocates around the world are heartened that the United States has spoken out on their behalf. The Country Reports we are discussing today will quickly make their way around the world, and in doing so, will advance U.S. interests.

Just to give you one measure of the widespread interest in the reports, last year after we posted the reports on our Internet web site -- www.state.gov -- they drew over 20,000 "hits" in just the first few hours. The world-wide web, in fact, has become an important tool in helping us get our message out.

But casting the spotlight on abuses can only be the first step in our policy. Our goal has been, and will continue to be, to use all the tools at our disposal to advance the cause of human rights democracy, and justice.

The Components of Our Policy

• First, is getting out the information, as we've done in the Country Reports delivered to you this week.
• Second, we express our views vigorously and publicly. Hardly a day goes by that the Department of State does not offer its public view on a human rights violation or development in some country. In recent days, for example, we have voiced our concerns about Chinese decisions that could restrict civil liberties in Hong Kong. We have condemned the deterioration of human rights in Burma. We regularly voice our human rights concerns regarding the Soeharto government, both in Jakarta and in Washington. We expressed our lack of confidence in the integrity of Armenian elections. Speaking is not a small step; it is important. When the United States speaks, people listen.
• Third, we conduct an energetic diplomacy in support of human rights. I will mention just a few examples:
  • The President, Vice President, and Secretary of State have regularly raised human rights concerns in their meetings with foreign leaders, including China and Indonesia, and at regional forums, such as ASEAN. Recently, at the conclusion of his trip to China, former Secretary of State Christopher stated that he spent more time on human rights than on any other issue, except non-proliferation. Or to cite another example, last October, Secretary Christopher and I met with a broad range of Ethiopian human rights non-governmental organizations, opposition party representatives and government officials.
  • I myself have logged hundreds of thousands of miles to 40 countries to raise human rights issues with foreign leaders. Among other recent initiatives, I've pressed President Milosevic of Serbia for democratic reforms and freedom of the media, met with Bishop Tutu to encourage the South African Truth Commission, and worked with the leaders of Rwanda to promote national reconciliation.
  • Members of my staff have visited Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to press for the evolution of democracy and have participated in monitoring elections in Bosnia and Albania.
  • We have initiated the first series of formal human rights dialogues with Colombia, Russia and Vietnam to highlight our concerns and press for progress.
  • Secretary Christopher and now Secretary Albright have issues world-wide cables to all our ambassadors instructing them to raise human rights issues and concerns with governments around the world. In particular we have asked them to pay special attention, and be ready to raise with host governments, issues of religious persecution.
  • And we've worked with our allies in the European Union, in OAS, ASEAN and OSCE, at the U.N.'s many forums, and in a host of multilateral organizations, such as the OECD, to develop common approaches and coordinated strategies on issues of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
• Fourth, we have worked to build new international institutions that will advance human rights.
  • Most notable are the War Crimes Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Just last week, the Rwanda Tribunal took a major step forward with the transfer from Cameroon of Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, a major architect of the 1994 genocide.
  • We have been the chief political, financial and logistical supporter of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav Tribunal has, proven critical to the Bosnian peace process as a way of isolating opponents of peace, helping to create breathing room for moderates to emerge and beginning to answer the demand for justice by victims who would otherwise seek retribution. We are working with our allies to assist and enhance the ability of the tribunal to bring war criminals to justice.
  • We are deeply involved in programs promoting the rule of law, administration of justice and training police, prosecutors and judges in human rights.
  • While at the international level the most significant and promising of the institutions being created today are the War Crimes Tribunals, we are also deeply involved in the development of exciting new quasi-international human rights institutions. In the former Yugoslavia, 1996 saw the creation of both the Commission on Human Rights for Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the International Commission on Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia, chaired by former Secretary Vance.
  • In addition, we have actively supported new institutions of accountability in countries around the world, such as the National Truth Commissions of El Salvador, Haiti and South Africa, and National Human Rights Commissions in India, Indonesia and Mexico.
  • We are also supporting the efforts of regional bodies like the OAS and OSCE to deepen and broaden their human rights efforts and capabilities in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.
  • In the United Nations context, we have supported the creation and strengthening of the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  • Another major initiative that has resulted from U.S. leadership and support has been the creation of U.N. human rights field missions and field offices in countries from Rwanda to Colombia to Cambodia. These missions spotlight abuses, help us coordinate response on the ground, and provide valuable early warning of impending human rights crises.
• Fifth, we have worked to build multilateral coalitions to promote human rights, whether a sanctions coalition on Nigeria, a human rights monitoring and humanitarian relief coalition in Haiti, or coalitions to promote democratic development and peace in El Salvador and Guatemala.
• Sixth, another new departure in which my bureau is involved is on the program side. We have succeeded in establishing several new assistance programs: the newly-created Middle East Regional Democracy Fund will finance small, highly focused programs promoting democracy, rule of law, the rights of women and institutions of civil society. The Democracy and Human Rights in Africa Fund provides an accessible and quickly disbursable mechanism to support democratic transitions in Africa through NGO-managed programs, local and U.S.-based. We are currently working to develop a South Asia Regional Democracy Fund.

  My bureau also now manages economic support funds that we allocated for democracy and human rights programs and has directly managed implementation of the congressionally-mandated "ear mark" for Burma, allocating grants to NGOs that conduct democracy and humanitarian programs there.

  We have extended ESF programs to Haiti, Cambodia and throughout Africa geared to democracy, rule of law, administration of justice and police training for human rights. And we administer the U.S. contribution to the International Commission in Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia.

  In addition, a DRL Human Rights Fund is currently being established, budgeted at $7 million in FY 97, to provide the Secretary of State with an instrument to respond to human rights conflicts and crises as they occur. Among the activities that we think could benefit from this fund are human rights monitoring missions, justice and accountability projects, and victims of torture.

• Seventh, we are increasingly collaborating with USIA on programs, such as bringing human rights activists to the U.S. to observe our own democratic processes at work, or arrange legal exchanges that bring American jurists overseas where they can advise new democracies on law reform.
• Eighth, building on the President's model business principles, we are engaged in extensive outreach to the business community to develop new ways of linking human rights and worker rights and concerns of child and slave labor, with corporate responsibility. We have created awards for corporate responsibility abroad.
• Ninth, we work closely with the ILO on its program to eliminate child labor, drawing on our labor attaches and reporting officers around the world to report extensively on child labor. Working with USTR, we achieved a partial suspension of Pakistan's GSP benefits because of concerns over child labor, targeting industries -- particularly sporting goods, surgical instruments and hand-knotted carpets.
• Tenth, we have identified a number of key thematic issues to which we are giving special attention:
  • We have formed a State Department working group on women's issues, ranging from women's participation in political life to female genital mutilation to trafficking in women and girls.
  • The President and the Secretary of State have established the Secretary's advisory committee on religious freedom abroad, which will create ongoing linkages between the State Department and religious leaders and authorities who are working to combat religious persecution abroad, and will interact with religious organizations promoting conflict resolution, human rights and civil society.
  • In my tenure, we have tried to foster greater coordination between the human rights community and our country's Armed Forces. Next week for instance, I will be making the latest of a number of trips to the U.S. Southern Military Command for discussions with Latin American Ministers of Defense and military chiefs of staff. This is but one illustration of how far we have come in this hemisphere, where a dialogue of this type would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Similarly, in Bosnia, we have developed path-breaking new forms of cooperation between U.S. military forces and human rights institutions and personnel.

Most of the steps I've been describing are approaches aimed at encouraging and assisting people and countries to improve human rights.

In our bilateral human rights diplomacy, we employ a range of measures, some "carrot" and some "stick," a few of which I would illustrate with some examples:

• Economic sanctions: In Nigeria we maintain a range of sanctions on the Abacha regime, including a ban on the sale and repair of military goods and suspension of consideration for EXIM and OPIC financing. We have suspended our economic aid program to Burma and have urged others to do the same; our post-Tiananmen sanctions on China remain in place, as do the restrictions on arms imports from China announced by the President in 1994; and of course we have sanctions in place for rogue regimes like Cuba and Iraq.
• We have imposed visa restrictions on leaders of repressive regimes -- those who benefit from the dictatorial regimes of Nigeria, Burma and Zaire are routinely denied visas to the U.S. and their movements are severely restricted on their visits to the U.N.
• We have restricted arms sales in countries with poor human rights records. As you know, DRL reviews applications for arms and munitions sales for their human rights ramifications. As a result of our interventions, export licenses for a wide range of munitions or crime control commodities have been denied or held for review during the past two years for Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Burma, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, China, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Liberia, Mauritania, Peru, Rwanda, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen and Zaire.
• We have regularly voted against development bank loans to Mauritania, and conversely, worked to direct multilateral assistance in support of human rights progress, as in Guatemala where we pledged large amounts of assistance for peace accord implementation.

The Context of Human Rights Policy

We have pursued all of these policies in a new, post-Cold War World with a focus on three primary issue areas:

• Facilitating the expansion of new democracies;
• Promoting adherence to international human rights standards; and
• Reducing regional conflicts among ethnic, religious and national groups.

Over the past four years, we have worked steadily to integrate these issues into the mainstream of our foreign policy. Our experience has taught us that much can be accomplished when the U.S. exercises leadership, but at the same time, we can be most successful when we pursue our objectives in close coordination with our allies and with those organizations outside government which share our goals.

Mr. Chairman, these remarks have offered just a brief overview of some of the human rights policies and activities we have pursued over the past year. We are pleased to work in close partnership with the Congress to advance human rights as a critical component of our foreign policy.

In closing, I'd like to offer my thanks to the Congress for its strong support for our efforts to promote and protect human rights. This support has been bipartisan and has come from both houses of Congress. The encouragement and the tools you have provided have given us the wherewithal to make a real difference in the world. With your continued support we can achieve a great deal more. I look forward to continuing to work closely with you in the months ahead in our common effort to advance the cause of human rights and democracy.

(End text)

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