From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 07 Sep 92 12:38 PDT
Subject: UNITED STATES: foreign policy out o
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700422:000:5268
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Sep  7 12:38:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: UNITED STATES: foreign policy out o

/* Written 12:11 am  Sep  3, 1992 by newsdesk in
cdp:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: UNITED STATES: foreign policy out of touch with human
rights data

washington, aug 31 (ips) -- while the u.s. state department has
made important improvements in reporting on human rights
conditions in foreign countries, its information is not being
translated into foreign policy, says a u.s. human rights group.

in a 447-page study critiquing the department's 1991 'country
reports' on the human rights situation in almost 170 countries,
the new york-based lawyers' committee on human rights (lchr)
concludes that ''accurate reporting alone is not enough''.

''the reports risk being regarded in splendid isolation as a
commendable but academic exercise unless u.s. policy comes to
reflect the information on human rights so comprehensively
assembled,'' the lchr report said.

the group charged that the dissonance between washington's ties
with china, paraguay, colombia, morocco, somalia, and haiti and
the human rights conditions of those countries is particularly
evident.

the subject of the lchr report is the annual 'country reports'
sent by the state department to congress in early february each
year since the congress first ordered the government to provide
human rights reports to it in 1978.

those reports have grown from about 600 pages to almost 1,700
pages in each of the past three years. they are now regarded by
many human rights organisations as the most comprehensive report
on human rights practices and developments in specific countries
available.

in the early 1980s, during the administration of former president
ronald reagan, the reports were often criticised by major rights
groups as being heavily politicised, particularly in countries
considered sensitive by washington.

thus, reports on nicaragua through most of the 1980s consistently
stressed violations by the sandinista government, which was being
challenged by u.s.-supported 'contra' rebels, while on nearby el
salvador, the state department downplayed abuses by that country's
armed forces.

by the end of the 1980s, however, human rights groups noted that
the reports had become more balanced and reliable.  they credited
both the decline in geopolitical competition between the united
states and the soviet union and the rise in influence of the
official in charge of the reports, assistant secretary of state
for human rights richard schifter. (more/ips)

united states: foreign policy out of touch with human rights
data(2-e)

united states: foreign policy (2)

schifter, who resigned earlier this year, reportedly out of
unhappiness with bush's continued defence of close ties with
china, has since endorsed the presidential candidacy of the
president's democratic challenger, arkansas governor bill
clinton.

''while most welcome, the improved reporting has underscored the
inconsistency in u.s. policy towards several gross violators of
human rights,'' according to the new report.

''human rights considerations are not the sole criterion governing
u.s. foreign policy.  however, where egregious violations exist,
experience has shown that the u.s. fails to respond at its
peril,'' says the lchr.

in particular, the report cited washington's refusal to sanction
iraq before baghdad invaded kuwait in aug. 1990, despite several
consecutive ''hard-hitting'' reports on human rights in iraq by
the state department, including the use of poison gases against
kurds during the late 1980s.

it also noted that washington has ignored the serious human rights
situations depicted in the reports on china and paraguay which
receive preferential trade treatment despite serious abuses
against worker rights, and on china and morocco, which receive
large amounts of military aid.

on haiti, according to the lchr, the state department has reported
on serious abuses of human rights, yet pursues a policy of
forcibly returning asylum seekers.

and it points out that the administration forthrightly condemned
during 1991 the forcible repatriation of vietnamese refugees in
hong kong -- a policy which it has pursued itself with respect to
haitians who have fled the island since the ouster 11 months ago
of president jean-bertrand aristide.

to address the gap between information and policy, the group said,
the state department should reactivate an inter-agency group which
was disbanded by reagan in 1981.

chaired by the deputy secretary of state, the group included
representatives of relevant state department bureaus, and
delegates from the treasury, defence, agriculture, commerce, and
labour departments, the national security council, and the u.s.
agency for international development.

regular meetings of such a group could better coordinate policy
towards countries which have human rights problems, according to
the report.

warren christopher, a prominent los angeles attorney who chaired
the group under president jimmy carter, is considered a
front-runner for secretary of state if clinton wins the november
elections. (end/ips/ip/jl/yjc/92)