Human Rights

 

•Secretary Clinton will be in Germany next month to attend a "freedom party" to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Giant dominoes will tumble to symbolize the fall.

•Clinton met with Iraq Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, above, this afternoon in Washington.

•A Washington Post editorial commends Clinton for promoting democracy in Russia.

•Clinton pens an op-ed on world hunger and food security.

•Clinton unveiled the Sudan policy review with Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Scott Gration, the special envoy for Sudan.

•In London, The Times reports that Clinton was snubbed by Putin when she was in Russia last week to push sanctions against Iran.

•Clinton got a "mixed bag" of diplomatic results in Russia last week, writes FP Shadow Government blogger David J. Kramer.

Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

 

Secretary Clinton hasn't been shy about pushing for human rights and openness in Russia. Yesterday she met with human rights activists and opposition journalists in Spaso House, the residence of the U.S. ambassador to Russia. Today, she did an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio (great photos here) in which she continued to press for human rights.

During the interview (transcript here), she said:

I have no doubt in my mind that democracy is in Russia's best interests, that respecting human rights, an independent judiciary, a free media are in the interests of building a strong, stable political system that provides a platform for broadly shared prosperity. We will continue to say that and we will continue to support those who also stand for those values."

Referring to the killing of journalists in Russia, which she discussed at Spaso House, Clinton said:

I mentioned the killings of journalists, and I said that this is a matter of grave concern not just to the United States, but to the people of Russia, and not just to the activists, but to people who worry that unsolved killings are a very serious challenge to order and to the fair functioning of society, and that we did not believe that enough was being done to make sure that no one had impunity from prosecution who might have been involved in any such criminal acts."

It's great that Clinton spoke up for human rights and didn't let realpolitik get in the way, as some accuse her of doing in China in February.

Photo: Valeriy Yevseyev, U.S. State Deptartment

Regarding the deadly riots in China's western Xinjiang region, home to the Muslim Uighur minority group, Secretary Clinton yesterday urged restraint, saying:

[W]e are deeply concerned over the reports of deaths and injuries from violence in Western China. We are trying to sort out, as best we can, the facts and circumstances from the region, and we’re calling on all sides to exercise restraint. We know there’s a long history of tension and discontent, but the most immediate matter is to bring the violence to a conclusion."

On Monday, Clinton "dropped by" a meeting between Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, according to State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. When asked during Monday's press briefing whether the riots were dicussed during the meeting, Kelly said, "I understand that it did come up," but said he did not have a "full readout" of what transpired.

Meanwhile, U.S. Reps. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) wrote an open letter to Clinton stating, "The Chinese regime in Beijing should not be allowed to engage in another Tienanmen [sic] Square with impunity."

Photo: PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

 

Today's Washington Post has an op-ed written by Secretary Clinton that calls on governments and organizations around the world to partner against human trafficking. She states:

Trafficking weakens legitimate economies, breaks up families, fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, and shreds the social fabric that is necessary for progress. It undermines our long-term efforts to promote peace and prosperity worldwide. And it is an affront to our values and our commitment to human rights.

and

The criminal networks that enslave millions of people cross borders and span continents. Our response must do the same. The United States is committed to building partnerships with governments and organizations around the world, to finding new and more effective ways to take on the scourge of human trafficking. We want to support our partners in their efforts and find ways to improve our own.

The op-ed appears one day after Clinton released the State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report."

Photo: OLIVER LANG/AFP/Getty Images

 

This morning, Secretary Clinton released the State Department's ninth annual "Trafficking in Persons Report." The report assesses more than 170 countries on what efforts their governments are taking to stop human trafficking.

To learn more about sex trafficking specifically, I recommend the recent book Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, by Siddharth Kara. (A portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to Free the Slaves.)

Photo: Robert Giroux/Getty Images

China has expressed "strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to Secretary Clinton's statements marking the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protesters. (In the photo above, the People's Liberation Army guards a street leading to Tiananmen Square on June 6, 1989, two days after the infamous crackdown.)

On June 3, Clinton called on the Chinese government to "provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal." She also said China should "give the rule of law, protection of internationally-recognized human rights, and democratic development the same priority as it has given to economic reform."

In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized Clinton for "crudely meddling in Chinese domestic affairs." He also said, "We urge the United States to forsake its prejudices, correct its erroneous ways and avoid obstructing and damaging China-U.S. relations."

The Chinese government has never published a count of those who died. A New York Times article yesterday stated that hundreds died.

The bold tone of Clinton's remarks are a contrast to those she made in February, in which she seemed to downplay human rights as a priority.

Photo: MANUEL CENETA/AFP/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton gave a televised speech today to a meeting in Madrid of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation, in which she explicitly linked reducing hunger and improving national security.

In a video address to the Madrid meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington was "committed" to working with other nations to meet the goal of halving the number of people worldwide living in poverty and hunger by 2015. "Governments and nations are more likely to become unstable when their populations are hungry and underfed," she said. "We are committed to building a new partnership among donor states, developing nations, UN agencies, NGOs, the private sector and others to better coordinate policies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," she added.

Are you starting to sense a theme (and a growing distance with Bush administration policies)? The Obama administration is convinced that trying to make the world a better place will make it also a safer place, whereas the Bush administration was concerned with making us (and sometimes us alone) safer and thus better off. It should be interesting to see who is more right -- though I have some ideas.