Inhaltsangabe
“The reports of the New York-based Human Rights Watch have become extremely important. . . . Cogent and eminently practical, these reports have gone far beyond an account of human rights abuses. . . .”—Ahmed Rashid in The New York Review of Books
“An attempt to bring rationality where emotion tends to dominate.”—Simon Jenkins, former editor of The Times (London)
In the aftermath of 2011's Arab Spring uprisings, unexpected new challenges and imperatives of building rights-respecting democracies appeared in their wake. Human Rights Watch’s 23rd annual World Report explores these new challenges and summarizes human rights conditions and practices in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, reflecting extensive investigative work by Human Rights Watch staff.
Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2013 is the global rights watchdog’s flagship annual review of global trends and news in human rights. An invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, it features not only incisive country surveys but also several hard-hitting essays highlighting key human rights issues, including:
•An introduction by Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth on how the Arab Spring shows us that toppling dictators may yet prove to be easier than the tough, complicated process of building a rights-respecting democracy;
•An essay on a Human Rights Council resolution on “traditional values” sponsored by Russia, and the implicit dangers this could mean for LGBT rights;
•An essay on the failure of many global businesses to operate with sufficient regard to human rights, and of governments to oversee them—leading to abuses such as the use of forced labor on a Canadian construction site in Eritrea, or the gang rapes of women by security guards employed by an international mining giant in Papua New Guinea.
World Report 2013 also features striking photo essays by award-winning photographers.
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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights, and operates in more than eighty countries. Its annual World Report is the most probing review of human rights developments available anywhere.
KENNETH ROTH is the executive director of Human Rights Watch. He has conducted numerous human rights investigations and missions around the world.
Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Foreword
The World Report is Human Rights Watch’s twenty-third annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, drawing on events from the end of 2011 through November 2012.
The book is divided into three main parts: an essay section, photo essays, and country-specific chapters.
In the introductory essay, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth considers the “day after” the end of abusive rule in countries. As the euphoria of the Arab Spring gives way to frustration over the slow pace of change, he notes that toppling dictators may yet prove easier than the messy and complicated process of building a rights-respecting democracy. But while the future may be uncertain, he warns against pining for the predictability of authoritarian rule, and cautions those now in power not to restrict the rights of others based on so-called morals, cherished values, or whatever restrictions a majority of voters will support. In this crucial, norm-building period, he says, effective courts, accountable public officials, and institutions of governance are needed to ensure that rights are upheld and the promise of the Arab Spring is realized.
Next, Graeme Reid sounds a warning about countries evoking tradition and traditional values to undermine human rights, especially for women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (“The Trouble With Tradition: When “Values” Trample Over Rights”). He argues that far from being benign, as its language suggests, a recently passed United Nations Human Rights Council resolution “promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms” via “a better understanding of traditional values of humankind” tramples over diversity, and fails to acknowledge just how fluid traditional practice and customary law can be.
As year one of the UN-backed Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, 2012 was supposed to mark a big step forward in addressing the failure of many global businesses to operate with sufficient regard for human rights. But as Chris Albin-Lackey notes, efforts to promote respect for human rights by businesses remain hobbled by the failure of governments to oversee and regulate their human rights practices (“Without Rules: A Failed Approach to Corporate Accountability”). A “workable balance” is needed, he writes, which limits human rights abuses while acknowledging that companies can face real difficulties in addressing human rights problems linked to their operations.
Finally, Juliane Kippenberg and Jane Cohen criticize the failure of governments, international agencies, and nongovernmental organizations to see environmental issues through the prism of human rights and address them together in laws or institutions (“Lives in the Balance: The Human Cost of Environmental Neglect”). They argue that the environmental and human rights movements must work together to ensure that those who damage the environment and trample on human rights are held accountable, and that those who suffer environmental degradation can be heard, participate in debate about environmental issues, and seek redress when needed.
The photo essays that follow focus on the experiences of three very different groups: migrants and asylum seekers in Greece; people with disabilities in Russia; and children and adults living in, and working around, gold mines in Nigeria’s Zamfara State. Yet all suffer from lack of legal protections and a range of abuses that impact their health, ability to fully participate in society, and other human rights.
Each country entry identifies significant human rights issues, examines the freedom of local human rights defenders to conduct their work, and surveys the response of key international actors, such as the United Nations, European Union, the United States, and various regional and international organizations and institutions.
The report reflects extensive investigative work that Human Rights Watch staff undertook in 2012, usually in close partnership with human rights activists in the country in question. It also reflects the work of our advocacy team, which monitors policy developments and strives to persuade governments and international institutions to curb abuses and promote human rights. Human Rights Watch publications, issued throughout the year, contain more detailed accounts of many of the issues addressed in the brief summaries in this volume. They can be found on the Human Rights Watch website, www.hrw.org.
As in past years, this report does not include a chapter on every country where Human Rights Watch works, nor does it discuss every issue of importance. The absence of a particular country or issue often simply reflects staffing limitations and should not be taken as commentary on the significance of the problem. There are many serious human rights violations that Human Rights Watch simply lacks the capacity to address.
The factors we considered in determining the focus of our work in 2012 (and hence the content of this volume) include the number of people affected and the severity of abuse, access to the country and the availability of information about it, the susceptibility of abusive forces to influence, and the importance of addressing certain thematic concerns and of reinforcing the work of local rights organizations.
The World Report does not have separate chapters addressing our thematic work but instead incorporates such material directly into the country entries. Please consult the Human Rights Watch website for more detailed treatment of our work on children’s rights, women’s rights, arms and military issues, business and human rights, health and human rights, international justice, terrorism and counterterrorism, refugees and displaced people, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people’s rights, and for information about our international film festivals.
The Day After
By Kenneth Roth
Two years into the Arab Spring, euphoria seems a thing of the past. The heady days of protest and triumph have been replaced by outrage at the atrocities in Syria, frustration that the region’s monarchs remain largely immune to pressure for reform, fear that the uprisings’ biggest winners are Islamists who might limit the rights of women, minorities, and dissidents, and disappointment that even in countries that have experienced a change of regime, fundamental change has been slow and unsteady. Difficult as it is to end abusive rule, the hardest part may well be the day after.
It should be no surprise that building a rights-respecting democracy on a legacy of repression is not easy. The transitions from communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union yielded many democracies, but also many dictatorships. Latin America’s democratic evolution over the past two decades has been anything but linear. Progress in Asia and Africa has been uneven and sporadic. Even the European Union, which has successfully made democratic reform and respect for human rights conditions of membership, has had a harder time curbing authoritarian impulses once countries—most recently Hungary and Romania—became members.
Moreover, those who excelled at overthrowing the autocrat are often not best placed to build a governing majority. The art of protest does not necessarily match the skills needed for governing. And allies in ousting a despot are sometimes not the best partners for replacing despotism.
But those who pine for the familiar days of dictatorship should remember that the uncertainties of freedom are no reason to revert to the enforced predictability of authoritarian rule. The path ahead may be treacherous, but the...
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