From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: UNITED STATES: foreign policy out o
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 17:13:19 GMT

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)




-- 
Mr. Aaron Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us -- posting from Evanston, Illinois