Human Rights Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Rogue Nations and WMD: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered

by Madhavee Inamdar | Dec 1, 2002

The Bush administration has finally laid out a formal strategy document on combating weapons of mass destruction. It has recently issued a reminder of its policy that warns any nation using weapons of mass destruction against the United States or its allies that it will face massive retaliation, perhaps with nuclear weapons. An official says the policy statement is part of President Bush’s effort to deal with threats from “rogue nations” and terrorists alike. By rehabilitating the term rogue to describe states Washington considers beyond the pale of the “civilized” political community, President Bush has brought the “Rogue Nations” phrase back into global fashion.

Collateral Damage Means Real People

by Ben Kiernan | Nov 1, 2002

When U.S. bombs hit a civilian warehouse in Afghanistan last year, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld responded: “We’re not running out of targets, Afghanistan is.” There was laughter in the press gallery.

The Prisoner as Message

by Bahey El-Din Hassan | Sep 1, 2002

The United States’ recent stance on the case of Saadeddin Ibrahim is the first time since the signing of the Camp David Accords 25 years ago that America has made its aid for Egypt conditional upon a human rights issue. This decision has raised many questions within both Arab and international circles. What position do human rights occupy in U.S.-Egyptian relations? Or in the policies of the United States itself? Is the attempt to link human rights to the case of Ibrahim a sincere decision, or some sort of fabrication? If the latter, what is its goal? And what is the impact of this move likely to be, both on the future of U.S.-Egyptian relations, and on the future of Ibrahim himself?

WSSD Both Attacks and Abets “Global Apartheid”

by Patrick Bond | Sep 1, 2002

Officials of the United Nations and the host South African government looking hard in the mirror this weekend will have to judge the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) a failure. The only remarkable step forward for human and environmental progress taken in the ultra-bourgeois Johannesburg suburb of Sandton was the widespread adoption of the idea of “global apartheid,” at President Thabo Mbeki’s suggestion.

Treaty for the Rights of Women Deserves Full U.S. Support

by Nora O'Connell, Ritu Sharma | Aug 1, 2002

In a recent address, President Bush declared, “A thriving nation will respect the rights of women, because no society can prosper while denying the opportunity to half its citizens.” The Arab Human Development Report, released in July, cited the lack of empowerment of women as one of the primary causes of the development gap between Arab countries and the rest of the world. Never before has the international community so strongly embraced the connection between the status of women’s human rights and the stability of a society as a whole.

Congress Ignores Human Rights Groups In Pro-Israel Resolution

by Stephen Zunes | May 1, 2002

Republican Right and congressional liberals join together to show support for Sharon government despite reports by Amnesty and Human Rights Watch detailing gross human rights abuses.

Washington Is Ignoring Human Rights Abuses: The Indonesia Case

by Frida Berrigan | May 1, 2002

When U.S. and Indonesian officials met in Jakarta in late April to discuss resumption of military cooperation, it should have caused alarm bells to ring all over Washington.

War on Terror Expands at Expense of Human Rights, Future Stability

by Frida Berrigan | Apr 1, 2002

In a speech marking the 6-month anniversary of September 11th, President George Bush envisioned a “peaceful world beyond terror” where “disputes can be settled within the bounds of reason and good will and mutual security.”

Networking Civil Society in Barcelona

by Martha Honey | Mar 1, 2002

Barcelona, Spain – This politically progressive, culturally distinct Mediterranean city served as host for Ubuntu, the latest international gathering of civil society. In contrast with the 60,000 people who converged on Porto Alegre, Brazil, in February for the second World Social Forum (WSF), less than 100 specially invited delegates participated in Ubuntu’s second annual constitutive meeting, held here March 1 and 2.

World Social Forum Retrospective

by Martha Honey | Feb 7, 2002

Porto Alegre, Brazil — The second annual World Social Forum (WSF) is now over, and the intention is to make it an annual event. But the questions being discussed among participants as they exchange hugs and business cards and board planes to various parts of the globe is, what shape should this gathering take in the future?