ANNUAL REPORTS DEEPEN DIALOGUE ON

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Sincerely,

Julien Moe
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FILE ID:97013103.NNE
DATE:01/31/97
TITLE:31-01-97  SHATTUCK TEXT: ANNUAL REPORTS DEEPEN DIALOGUE ON HUMAN RIGHTS

TEXT:
(Promoting human rights through all the tools at our disposal) (2840)

Washington -- "The annual presentation of the country reports to host
governments extends and deepens a dialogue on human rights in those
countries," Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck told the House

International Affairs Committee in testimony January 31, the day after
the State Department released its reports on 193 countries.

"The spotlight on abuses cast by these reports, backed by the
credibility of the U.S., is itself a major boost to the work of human
rights advocates," Shattuck said.

"But casting the spotlight on abuses can only be the first step in our
policy," he continued. "Our goal has been, and will continue to be, to
use all the tools at our disposal to advance the cause of human
rights, democracy and justice."

Shattuck went on to cite the strong bipartisan support that human
rights have enjoyed throughout the government. "Human rights diplomacy
has proven to be one of the most creative and fruitful instances of
collaboration between the legislative and executive branches," he
commented, noting that the annual reports have been "but one of the
many tools of human rights diplomacy to have emerged from
congressional engagement with the issue."

Following is the text of Shattuck's remarks before the House
International Affairs Committee, as prepared for delivery:

(Begin text)

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to appear
before you today to discuss the work being done by the State
Department, and specifically by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights
and Labor, in promoting democracy and human rights around the world.
Perhaps more than any other element of our nation's foreign policy,
the democracy and human rights agenda reflects American principles and
beliefs, and our vision for a safe and peaceful world.

Overview -- The Human Rights Reports and U.S. Diplomacy

I am especially glad to be here because human rights diplomacy has
proven to be one of the most creative and fruitful instances of
collaboration between the legislative and executive branches. My
bureau was created by congressional mandate, and the annual Country
Reports, whose release this week brings us here today, is but one of
the many tools of human rights diplomacy to have emerged from
congressional engagement with the issue.

Indeed, Mr. Chairman, the Country Reports' role in human rights
advocacy and diplomacy is far-reaching. To begin with, the thousands
of personnel-hours devoted to preparing the report, at our embassies
in every corner of the world and here in Washington, serve to
concentrate the minds of U.S. diplomats and their foreign counterparts
on our commitment to the promotion of human rights, and bring our
personnel into ongoing contact with the extraordinary human rights
activists in every country whose independent reporting is
indispensable to our own. The annual presentation of the Country
Reports to host governments extends and deepens a dialogue on human
rights in those countries, affords a regular benchmark for progress
and a steady reminder of this government's commitment. As Justice
Brandeis once observed, the best disinfectant is sunshine, and the
spotlight on abuses cast by these reports, backed by the credibility
of the United States, is itself a major boost to the work of human
rights advocates.

The Country Reports set a factual basis for the formation of our human
rights policy. Highlighting abuses is an important first step in our
approach. Repressive regimes cringe at criticism. Responsible
governments are inclined to recognize their shortcomings and seek
remedies. And human rights advocates around the world are heartened
that the United States has spoken out on their behalf. The Country
Reports we are discussing today will quickly make their way around the
world, and in doing so, will advance U.S. interests.

Just to give you one measure of the widespread interest in the
reports, last year after we posted the reports on our Internet web
site -- www.state.gov -- they drew over 20,000 "hits" in just the
first few hours. The world-wide web, in fact, has become an important
tool in helping us get our message out.

But casting the spotlight on abuses can only be the first step in our
policy. Our goal has been, and will continue to be, to use all the
tools at our disposal to advance the cause of human rights democracy,
and justice.

The Components of Our Policy

Our arsenal for promoting human rights is a broad one, and we employ
it actively. It includes both traditional diplomacy and a range of new
approaches that we continue to expand and develop. I'd like to review
for you briefly some of the means we employ to advance human rights.

- First, is getting out the information, as we've done in the Country
Reports delivered to you this week.

- Second, we express our views vigorously and publicly. Hardly a day
goes by that the Department of State does not offer its public view on
a human rights violation or development in some country. In recent
days, for example, we have voiced our concerns about Chinese decisions
that could restrict civil liberties in Hong Kong. We have condemned
the deterioration of human rights in Burma. We regularly voice our
human rights concerns regarding the Soeharto government, both in
Jakarta and in Washington. We expressed our lack of confidence in the
integrity of Armenian elections. Speaking is not a small step; it is
important. When the United States speaks, people listen.

- Third, we conduct an energetic diplomacy in support of human rights.
I will mention just a few examples:

-- The President, Vice President, and Secretary of State have
regularly raised human rights concerns in their meetings with foreign
leaders, including China and Indonesia, and at regional forums, such
as ASEAN. Recently, at the conclusion of his trip to China, former
Secretary of State Christopher stated that he spent more time on human
rights than on any other issue, except non-proliferation. Or to cite
another example, last October, Secretary Christopher and I met with a
broad range of Ethiopian human rights non-governmental organizations,
opposition party representatives and government officials.

-- I myself have logged hundreds of thousands of miles to 40 countries
to raise human rights issues with foreign leaders. Among other recent
initiatives, I've pressed President Milosevic of Serbia for democratic
reforms and freedom of the media, met with Bishop Tutu to encourage
the South African Truth Commission, and worked with the leaders of
Rwanda to promote national reconciliation.

-- Members of my staff have visited Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to
press for the evolution of democracy and have participated in
monitoring elections in Bosnia and Albania.

-- We have initiated the first series of formal human rights dialogues
with Colombia, Russia and Vietnam to highlight our concerns and press
for progress.

-- Secretary Christopher and now Secretary Albright have issues
world-wide cables to all our ambassadors instructing them to raise
human rights issues and concerns with governments around the world. In
particular we have asked them to pay special attention, and be ready
to raise with host governments, issues of religious persecution.

-- And we've worked with our allies in the European Union, in OAS,
ASEAN and OSCE, at the U.N.'s many forums, and in a host of
multilateral organizations, such as the OECD, to develop common
approaches and coordinated strategies on issues of human rights,
democracy and the rule of law.

- Fourth, we have worked to build new international institutions that
will advance human rights.

-- Most notable are the War Crimes Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia
and Rwanda. Just last week, the Rwanda Tribunal took a major step
forward with the transfer from Cameroon of Colonel Theoneste Bagosora,
a major architect of the 1994 genocide.

-- We have been the chief political, financial and logistical
supporter of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav Tribunal has, proven critical to the Bosnian

peace process as a way of isolating opponents of peace, helping to
create breathing room for moderates to emerge and beginning to answer
the demand for justice by victims who would otherwise seek
retribution. We are working with our allies to assist and enhance the
ability of the tribunal to bring war criminals to justice.

-- We are deeply involved in programs promoting the rule of law,
administration of justice and training police, prosecutors and judges
in human rights.

-- While at the international level the most significant and promising
of the institutions being created today are the War Crimes Tribunals,
we are also deeply involved in the development of exciting new
quasi-international human rights institutions. In the former
Yugoslavia, 1996 saw the creation of both the Commission on Human
Rights for Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the International Commission on
Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia, chaired by former Secretary
Vance.

-- In addition, we have actively supported new institutions of
accountability in countries around the world, such as the National
Truth Commissions of El Salvador, Haiti and South Africa, and National
Human Rights Commissions in India, Indonesia and Mexico.

-- We are also supporting the efforts of regional bodies like the OAS
and OSCE to deepen and broaden their human rights efforts and
capabilities in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.

-- In the United Nations context, we have supported the creation and
strengthening of the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

-- Another major initiative that has resulted from U.S. leadership and
support has been the creation of U.N. human rights field missions and
field offices in countries from Rwanda to Colombia to Cambodia. These
missions spotlight abuses, help us coordinate response on the ground,
and provide valuable early warning of impending human rights crises.

- Fifth, we have worked to build multilateral coalitions to promote
human rights, whether a sanctions coalition on Nigeria, a human rights
monitoring and humanitarian relief coalition in Haiti, or coalitions
to promote democratic development and peace in El Salvador and
Guatemala.

- Sixth, another new departure in which my bureau is involved is on
the program side. We have succeeded in establishing several new
assistance programs: the newly-created Middle East Regional Democracy
Fund will finance small, highly focused programs promoting democracy,
rule of law, the rights of women and institutions of civil society.
The Democracy and Human Rights in Africa Fund provides an accessible
and quickly disbursable mechanism to support democratic transitions in
Africa through NGO-managed programs, local and U.S.-based. We are
currently working to develop a South Asia Regional Democracy Fund.

My bureau also now manages economic support funds that we allocated
for democracy and human rights programs and has directly managed
implementation of the congressionally-mandated "ear mark" for Burma,
allocating grants to NGOs that conduct democracy and humanitarian
programs there.

We have extended ESF programs to Haiti, Cambodia and throughout Africa
geared to democracy, rule of law, administration of justice and police
training for human rights. And we administer the U.S. contribution to
the International Commission in Missing Persons in the former
Yugoslavia.

In addition, a DRL Human Rights Fund is currently being established,
budgeted at $7 million in FY 97, to provide the Secretary of State
with an instrument to respond to human rights conflicts and crises as
they occur. Among the activities that we think could benefit from this
fund are human rights monitoring missions, justice and accountability
projects, and victims of torture.

- Seventh, we are increasingly collaborating with USIA on programs,
such as bringing human rights activists to the U.S. to observe our own
democratic processes at work, or arrange legal exchanges that bring
American jurists overseas where they can advise new democracies on law
reform.

- Eighth, building on the President's model business principles, we
are engaged in extensive outreach to the business community to develop
new ways of linking human rights and worker rights and concerns of
child and slave labor, with corporate responsibility. We have created
awards for corporate responsibility abroad.

- Ninth, we work closely with the ILO on its program to eliminate
child labor, drawing on our labor attaches and reporting officers
around the world to report extensively on child labor. Working with
USTR, we achieved a partial suspension of Pakistan's GSP benefits
because of concerns over child labor, targeting industries --
particularly sporting goods, surgical instruments and hand-knotted
carpets.

- Tenth, we have identified a number of key thematic issues to which
we are giving special attention:

-- We have formed a State Department working group on women's issues,
ranging from women's participation in political life to female genital
mutilation to trafficking in women and girls.

-- The President and the Secretary of State have established the
Secretary's advisory committee on religious freedom abroad, which will
create ongoing linkages between the State Department and religious
leaders and authorities who are working to combat religious
persecution abroad, and will interact with religious organizations
promoting conflict resolution, human rights and civil society.

-- In my tenure, we have tried to foster greater coordination between
the human rights community and our country's Armed Forces. Next week
for instance, I will be making the latest of a number of trips to the
U.S. Southern Military Command for discussions with Latin American
Ministers of Defense and military chiefs of staff. This is but one
illustration of how far we have come in this hemisphere, where a
dialogue of this type would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Similarly, in Bosnia, we have developed path-breaking new forms of
cooperation between U.S. military forces and human rights institutions
and personnel.

Most of the steps I've been describing are approaches aimed at
encouraging and assisting people and countries to improve human
rights.

In our bilateral human rights diplomacy, we employ a range of
measures, some "carrot" and some "stick," a few of which I would
illustrate with some examples:

-- Economic sanctions: In Nigeria we maintain a range of sanctions on
the Abacha regime, including a ban on the sale and repair of military
goods and suspension of consideration for EXIM and OPIC financing. We
have suspended our economic aid program to Burma and have urged others
to do the same; our post-Tiananmen sanctions on China remain in place,
as do the restrictions on arms imports from China announced by the
President in 1994; and of course we have sanctions in place for rogue
regimes like Cuba and Iraq.

-- We have imposed visa restrictions on leaders of repressive regimes
-- those who benefit from the dictatorial regimes of Nigeria, Burma
and Zaire are routinely denied visas to the U.S. and their movements
are severely restricted on their visits to the U.N.

-- We have restricted arms sales in countries with poor human rights
records. As you know, DRL reviews applications for arms and munitions
sales for their human rights ramifications. As a result of our
interventions, export licenses for a wide range of munitions or crime
control commodities have been denied or held for review during the
past two years for Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Burma, Burundi,
Cameroon, Chad, China, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guatemala, Indonesia,
Iran, Lebanon, Liberia, Mauritania, Peru, Rwanda, Serbia, Sierra
Leone, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen
and Zaire.

-- We have regularly voted against development bank loans to
Mauritania, and conversely, worked to direct multilateral assistance
in support of human rights progress, as in Guatemala where we pledged
large amounts of assistance for peace accord implementation.

The Context of Human Rights Policy

We have pursued all of these policies in a new, post-Cold War World
with a focus on three primary issue areas:

-- Facilitating the expansion of new democracies;

-- Promoting adherence to international human rights standards; and

-- Reducing regional conflicts among ethnic, religious and national
groups.

Over the past four years, we have worked steadily to integrate these
issues into the mainstream of our foreign policy. Our experience has
taught us that much can be accomplished when the U.S. exercises
leadership, but at the same time, we can be most successful when we
pursue our objectives in close coordination with our allies and with
those organizations outside government which share our goals.

Mr. Chairman, these remarks have offered just a brief overview of some
of the human rights policies and activities we have pursued over the
past year. We are pleased to work in close partnership with the
Congress to advance human rights as a critical component of our
foreign policy.

In closing, I'd like to offer my thanks to the Congress for its strong
support for our efforts to promote and protect human rights. This
support has been bipartisan and has come from both houses of Congress.
The encouragement and the tools you have provided have given us the
wherewithal to make a real difference in the world. With your
continued support we can achieve a great deal more. I look forward to
continuing to work closely with you in the months ahead in our common
effort to advance the cause of human rights and democracy.

(End text)
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