La Strada Documentation Center

World Report 2009

Document number
1981
Date
2009
Title
World Report 2009
Author/publisher
Human Rights Watch
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Also in the report: Taking Back the Initiative from the Human Rights Spoilers by Kenneth Roth
Summary
A government's respect for human rights must be measured not only by how it treats its own people but also by how it protects rights in its relations with other countries. As we commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the response of governments to the plight of people abroad is often anemic. Indeed, it is a sad fact that when it comes to this international protection of rights, the governments with the clearest vision and strategy are often those that seek to undermine enforcement. The days are past when one would look to Washington, Brussels, or other Western capitals for the initiative in intergovernmental discussions of human rights. Today, 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 in the wrong direction.
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