18 July 2007

Democracy Advancing Worldwide Despite Recent “Pushback”

State’s Negroponte, Lowenkron discuss human rights promotion

 

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte (© AP Images)

By Eric Green
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- People living under tyranny around the world should know the United States remains committed to helping them secure their basic human rights, says Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

In July 18 remarks, Negroponte said the U.S. role is not to try to “impose a formula for democracy” worldwide, but to support “indigenous reformers and their vision for freedom.”

Speaking at a conference for State Department human rights and labor officers, Negroponte lamented the “disastrous consequences” when “fragile states become failed states.”  In an era marked by the global terrorism threat, the United States must do its best to support the rule of law, good governance and democratic development, said Negroponte.

Referring to comments made by President Bush June 5 in Prague, the Czech Republic, the deputy secretary said only about 45 democracies existed worldwide at the start of the 1980s, compared with more than 120 democracies now, which is “very good news indeed for freedom.” (See transcript of Bush's speech.)

Negroponte singled out Latin America for its “almost spectacular transformation” in a generation, from being dominated by military dictatorships to a region now predominately democratic. 

Negroponte said the United States must tailor its support for human rights and democracy to the challenges particular to individual countries and regions.  Free societies and democracies, he said, evolve at “different speeds in different places shaped by history and traditions and by the impetus for reform within each region,” Negroponte said.

According to Negroponte, these factors mean that, for some countries, U.S. diplomacy is “deliberately quiet and low-profile because a public profile could be counterproductive.”  For other countries, however, “public diplomacy on our part may help protect defenders of human rights,” he said.

Negroponte said the State Department’s annual country reports on human rights have become much more “candid” about individual countries’ human rights situations since the U.S. Congress first mandated the reports in the early 1970s.

“I really see the advantage of calling things the way we see them” as opposed to 20-30 years ago, when the reports were “bland,” short and “not particularly revealing” on how countries were performing in the human rights arena, Negroponte said.

 

Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Barry Lowenkron (Janine Sides/State Dept.)

“I think we’re doing both ourselves and our policy interests, and the countries concerned a service by this kind of [frank] reporting,” Negroponte said.

HUMAN RIGHTS PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL CONCERN, LOWENKRON SAYS

Barry Lowenkron, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said human rights defenders in both the public and private sectors currently face the challenge of operating in a “backlash against democracy,” such as in Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

Lowenkron, whose bureau is hosting the July 18-20 conference at the State Department, said 2006 was referred to as the “Year of the Pushback,” in which a number of countries used laws to restrict the work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in human rights work.

“Unfortunately, the year of the pushback continues well into 2007,” said Lowenkron.

Lowenkron said that despite “all the debates and acrimony” and media reports that the Bush administration has lost its way in democracy promotion, a “curious development” [is] going on around the world that “regions, states, and organizations” have taken up the “mantle” of human rights promotion.  Lowenkron said human rights promotion does not have to have a “made-in-America” label to be effective.

For example, he pointed to the July 11-12 “democracy bridge” forum between the Organization of American States and the African Union. At the forum, officials exchanged ideas on how best to advance democracy and protect human rights through the two organizations’ respective democracy charters.  (See related article.)

The forum, Lowenkron said, represented part of the “international agenda” on human rights promotion.  A debate is continuing worldwide on how best to advance “democratic practices” and protect human rights, he said.

The State Department, in response to the pushback against human rights, announced in December 2006 its list of “10 Core NGO Principles,” which Lowenkron said were “hammered out” in consultations with several other countries and many NGOs.  The principles include provisions stating that NGOs must be permitted to carry out their peaceful work without facing harassment, must have access to domestic and foreign media, should be free to seek financial support and should face criminal or civil legal actions that are based only on due process and equality before the law.

Lowenkron said the State Department also established the Human Rights Defenders Fund. That fund will enable the U.S. government to respond quickly to human rights defenders' emergency needs by providing grants to activists who are facing financial, legal or medical problems as a result of government repression.

Lowenkron said the department is in the process of getting final approval from the U.S. Congress to begin the fund, which will operate initially with a budget of $1.5 million and be replenished as needed.  (See related article.)

The full text of the State Department’s 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices is on the department’s Web site.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)