Foreign Policy Live The End of Human Rights?
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Feb 28, 2025 Kenneth Roth, former head of Human Rights Watch for nearly 30 years, discusses the troubling state of human rights under rising authoritarianism. He believes there's a path for Trump to make positive changes, despite his tumultuous past. The conversation delves into China's repressive regime, challenges faced by human rights organizations, and the illusory nature of autocratic prosperity. Roth emphasizes the link between a nation’s treatment of LGBTQ communities and broader human rights issues, advocating for international cooperation and accountability in combating oppression.
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Human Rights Struggle
- The defense of human rights is a constant battle against governments' inherent temptation to violate them.
- The human rights movement aims to alter the cost-benefit analysis of repression.
Cost of Repression
- Stopping human rights violations involves raising their cost through reputational damage and denying desired resources.
- Coalitions of democracies can pressure human rights abusers even without US involvement.
Hypocrisy and Truth
- Governments justify abuses by pointing to Western hypocrisy, making it harder to hold them accountable.
- The truth remains powerful, and people can still find it despite propaganda.
