Washington - President-elect Barack Obama should ensure that the US reclaims leadership of the global human rights agenda that has been subverted by countries such as China and Russia keen to avoid scrutiny of their own abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday. Obama must put human rights at the heart of his administration's foreign, domestic and security policy if the US is to undo the "enormous damage of the Bush years," the group said in its World Report 2009, an annual review of human rights issues in more than 90 countries.
"For the first time in nearly a decade, the US has a chance to regain its global credibility by turning the page on the abusive policies of the Bush administration," said Kenneth Roth, HRW executive director.
The days are past when the world would look to Washington, London, Brussels or other Western capitals to take the initiative in international discussions about human rights, the group said.
"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," Roth said, describing them as "spoilers."
Among other criticisms, the report points to South Africa for failing to address the crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe, Egypt for encouraging less scrutiny of the Darfur conflict, and India and China for staying silent on repression in Myanmar (Burma).
A first step for Obama in signalling the US' willingness to "rejoin the international community and subject itself to the rule of law" would be to "re-sign" the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty, seek membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council and ratify neglected major human rights treaties, HRW suggested.
Repressive regimes have stymied censure for rights violations because too many democracies either remain silent or mount ineffective defences at the UN and other international bodies, the report said.
Washington has been unable to respond and has lost credibility because of its own records of abuses, particularly in its fight against terrorism, and many governments have profited from the US absence, the group said.
"As a vital first step, Barack Obama and his team should radically rethink how they fight terrorism," Roth said. "It's not only wrong but ineffectual to commit abuses in the name of fighting terrorism or to excuse abuses by repressive governments simply because they are thought to be allies in countering terror."
The 564-page report documents ongoing human rights abuses in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and the Palestinian territories and Somalia, and political repression in Cuba, Iran, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.
Countries commended for supporting human rights included Botswana, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Zambia in Africa, and Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay in Latin America.
