A Survey and Analysis of "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2002-2003"
Hearing Before the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives
108th Congress, First Session
Serial No. 108–43
Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations
July 9, 2003
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Table of Contents:
SPEAKER INDEX CONTENTS INSERTS
• CRANER 21 54 58 60 62 67 69 71 73 74 75 77 80 82 86
• FED. NEWS SERVICE 187
• GERSHMAN 121
• GREEN 72 73 74 77 79 80
• KIRKPATRICK 89 90 92 224
• KOH 172 227 230
• LANTOS 15 56 60 61
• LIBERTY DUNN 4
• MALINOWSKI 192
• MCCOLLUM 75 77
• NOTE 36 86
• RENEE AUSTELL 4
• ROBERT R. KING 4
• ROHRABACHER 67 71
• ROS-LEHTINEN 79 80 83 84 85 91 92
• SMITH 6 19 36 51 56 61 65 67 71 72 75 79 83 85 86 87 90 103 121 172 192 213 214 223 226 228 230 231
• TANCREDO 61 63 64 65
• THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR 4
• WATSON 65
• WINDSOR 213 214
• WINTER 37 63 64 84
• WOLLACK 103
• STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE LORNE W. CRANER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN
• RIGHTS, AND LABOR, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, PAGE 21
• STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ROGER P. WINTER, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT
• AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, PAGE 36
• STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JEANE J. KIRKPATRICK, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE, APPEARING ON BEHALF OF GEORGE A. FOLSOM, PH.D., PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE, PAGE 89
• STATEMENT OF KENNETH WOLLACK, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, PAGE 103
• STATEMENT OF CARL GERSHMAN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, PAGE 121
• STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE HAROLD HONGJU KOH, GERARD C. AND BERNICE LATROBE SMITH PROFESSOR OF
• INTERNATIONAL LAW, YALE LAW SCHOOL, PAGE 172
• STATEMENT OF TOM MALINOWSKI, WASHINGTON ADVOCACY DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, PAGE 192
• STATEMENT OF JENNIFER WINDSOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FREEDOM HOUSE, PAGE 213
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey,
Vice Chairman
DAN BURTON, Indiana
ELTON GALLEGLY, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina
DANA ROHRABACHER, California
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
PETER T. KING, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
AMO HOUGHTON, New York
JOHN M. McHUGH, New York
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
RON PAUL, Texas
NICK SMITH, Michigan
JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia
MARK GREEN, Wisconsin
JERRY WELLER, Illinois
MIKE PENCE, Indiana
THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan
WILLIAM J. JANKLOW, South Dakota
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida
TOM LANTOS, California
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
BRAD SHERMAN, California
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
BARBARA LEE, California
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania
EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
DIANE E. WATSON, California
ADAM SMITH, Washington
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
CHRIS BELL, Texas
THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel
ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director
RENEE AUSTELL, Professional Staff Member, Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights
LIBERTY DUNN, Staff Associate
WITNESSES
The Honorable Lorne W. Craner, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State
The Honorable Roger P. Winter, Assistant Administrator, Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Agency for International Development
The Honorable Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Board of Directors, International Republican Institute, appearing on behalf of George A. Folsom, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, International Republican Institute
Kenneth Wollack, President, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
Carl Gershman, President, National Endowment for Democracy
The Honorable Harold Hongju Koh, Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law, Yale Law School
Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch
Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director, Freedom House
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, and Vice Chairman, Committee on International Relations: Prepared statement
The Honorable Lorne W. Craner: Prepared statement
The Honorable Roger P. Winter: Prepared statement
George A. Folsom, Ph.D.: Prepared statement
Kenneth Wollack: Prepared statement
Carl Gershman: Prepared statement
The Honorable Harold Hongju Koh: Prepared statement
Tom Malinowski: Prepared statement
Jennifer Windsor: Prepared statement
APPENDIX
Internews Network, Inc.: Statement submitted for the record
A SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF ''SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY: THE U.S. RECORD 2002–2003''
WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2003
House of Representatives,
Committee on International Relations,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:31 a.m. in Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. Smith [acting Chairman of the Committee] presiding.
Mr. SMITH. The hearing will come to order. Good morning to everyone.
Page 7
In Beijing in 1991, to press for religious freedom, release of political prisoners and end the forced abortion and coerced sterilization and torture, Congressman Frank Wolf and I met with Premiere Li Peng. After firmly, but diplomatically, making our case, the powerful leader of China unloaded with both barrels. It was a remarkable and dismaying spectacle, for everything was absolutely denied, as we might expect. There were no political prisoners in China, and the tired, old defense of internal affairs was trotted out and invoked.
Clearly ticked off especially by a face-to-face criticism of China's one child per couple policy—presumably no one in the international community had ever done that before—the Premier scolded Frank Wolf and I and said that all relevant documents concerning the U.S.–PRC bilateral relationship, including the Shanghai communique, precluded human rights.
To some extent he was right about those documents. However, the exchange underscored in my mind why human rights concerns must be central, at the core of bilateral relations, and when we subordinate human rights or treat them as an afterthought, the last albeit obligatory item on a set of diplomatic talking points, we miss precious opportunities to ameliorate suffering and may even, however unwittingly, enable abusing regimes to commit abuses by our lack of articulation, by our lack of emphasis or the relative unimportance we devote to human rights.
Human rights is not a side show, or at least it should not be. It ought to be the main event. What is conveyed concerning human rights and what is omitted at all diplomatic levels, but especially at the top, has predictable real world consequences for good or ill for at-risk persons and victims.
Page 8
As a Member of Congress for 23 years, it has been my experience to discover far too many seasoned diplomats for whom sustained and meaningful human rights and interventions, especially when it comes to religious freedom or coercive population control, are regarded as impediments to the conduct of serious diplomacy. One would note or would point out that that sort of diplomatic dinosaur hopefully is on the decline, hopefully en route to extinction.
I would note here that by properly honoring and extolling the exemplary work of Foreign Service Officers as is done in this report like Laura Englebrect and Mark Lambert, as co-winners of this year's award for exceptional achievements in the field of human rights and democracy, the department signals the high value it places on human rights advocacy. That emphasis can only have a positive effect on State Department culture.
Ladies and gentlemen, the report that we examine today is an important contribution to the ongoing and I hope ever expanding effort to ensure that human rights and democracy building is at the core of U.S. foreign policy. I commend and thank Assistant Secretary Lorne Craner not only for his strong personal and professional commitment to human rights, but for his leadership in compiling this very useful document. In like manner, I congratulate Roger Winter for his extraordinary service to humanity over the course of many, many years, especially to the disenfranchised and to refugees.
In many ways, the report that we are looking at and examining today resembles an executive summary. We get hundreds of thumbnail sketches of robust initiatives in scores of countries. Like many first reports, however, and we saw this with the first human trafficking report 3 years ago, some countries are inexplicably excluded from the report.
Page 9
For example, despite being classified as tier III countries in the just released TIP Report—in other words, countries that failed to meet minimum standards regarding human trafficking and failed to make serious and sustained efforts to eliminate trafficking—five countries—Greece, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Belize and Suriname—are not even mentioned in this report.
Surely the United States has undertaken important projects in each of these nations that a reasonable person would have expected would have been showcased in the report, and, as we would note, Turkey and Kazakhstan performed poorly in other areas of human rights, including the use of torture, especially in extracting confessions. I know for a fact that both Congress and the Executive Branch routinely raise these important issues as well.
Moreover, in its reporting on other tier III countries that are featured in the report—these are in the report, including Liberia, Burma, Sudan and Cuba, but again they are on the TIP Report as egregious violators of human trafficking and not making sustained efforts to mitigate that trafficking. There is no mention made about what they are doing and what we are doing, I should say, in response to try to mitigate and end human trafficking in those countries. Perhaps an oversight, but hopefully the next report will get it right.
Moreover, while the section on China contained numerous innovative initiatives designed to foster systemic reforms, no mention was made of the sanctions on population control programs. As Secretary of State Powell noted in his finding of July 21, 2002:
''The PRC Government publicly establishes and enforces detailed planned birth policies with legal births distinguished from out-of-plan births.''
Page 10
In other words, there are illegal children, and they are subject if the woman continues to carry that child, with very, very serious and Draconian consequences like a social compensation fee that is two to three times the annual income of both parents.
''This regime,''
Mr. Powell goes on to write,
''plainly operates to coerce pregnant women to have abortions in order to avoid those penalties.''
The human rights sanction that this Administration has initiated, the denial of funding to both China and the UNFPA, also was not mentioned. I was also disappointed to see no mention of our response and strategy to China's terrible crackdown on the WEAGers in Xiangcheng Province.
As we all know, the Chinese Government has cloaked their campaign to imprison and kill thousands of Muslims in the so-called autonomous region. They have cloaked it as an anti-terrorism campaign, somehow analogous to what the United States and our coalition forces are doing to try to end terrorism as we know it.
On the other hand, Jennifer Windsor of Freedom House points out that the report is a critical first step, and I think that needs to be underscored. This is a first step in trying to compile the strategies and the policies of the United States Government to combat human rights abuse and to promote democracy.
Page 11
She points out that it is an impressive collection and compilation of a portion of the work of the U.S. Government and what we are doing to promote democracy and human rights. In other words, some of the good things that we are doing are highlighted in the bill or in the report, but it does not tell the whole story. It is a good story. Hopefully the future reports all of it. It will probably double the size of it, but it needs to be done as well.
Again, I want to thank our very distinguished witnesses for being here, and I yield to my good friend and colleague, Mr. Lantos, for any opening comments.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Smith follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, AND VICE CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
In Beijing in 1991 to press for religious freedom, release of political prisoners, and an end to forced abortion, coerced sterilization and torture, Congressman Frank Wolf and I met with Premier Li Peng for about an hour.
After we firmly but diplomatically made our case, the powerful leader of China unloaded with both barrels. It was a remarkable, deeply disappointing and dismaying spectacle.
First, everything was absolutely denied, (i.e. there are no political prisoners in China.) Then they trotted out and invoked the tired old defense of ''internal affairs.''
Page 12
Clearly ticked off—especially by face to face criticism of China's one child per couple policy—presumably no one from the international communities did that before—Li Peng scolded us and said that all relevant documents concerning the US–PRC bilateral relationship, including the Shanghai Communique, precluded human rights issues.
And to some extent—he was right about those documents. However, the exchange underscored in my mind why human rights concerns must be central—at the core—of bilateral relations. It also underscored that when we subordinate human rights or treat them as an afterthought—the last albeit obligatory item on a set of diplomatic talking points—we miss precious opportunities to ameliorate suffering and may even, however unwittingly, enable abusing regimes to commit abuses by our lack of articulation, by our lack of emphasis or the relative unimportance we devote to human rights.
Human rights aren't, or at least shouldn't be, a sideshow—it ought to be the main event.
What is conveyed concerning human rights, or omitted—at all diplomatic levels but especially at the top—has predictable real world consequences for good or ill for at risk persons or victims.
As a Member of Congress for 23 years, it has been my experience to discover far too many ''seasoned diplomats'' for whom sustained and meaningful human rights interventions—especially when it concerns religious freedom or coercive population control—are regarded as impediments to the conduct of serious diplomacy. One would hope that this sort of diplomatic dinosaur is on the decline en route to extinction.
Page 13
I would note here that by properly honoring and extolling the exemplary work of Foreign Service officers like Laura Engelbrecht and Mark Lambert as co winners of this year's award for exceptional achievements in the field of human rights and democracy, the Department signals the high value it places on human rights advocacy. That emphasis can only have a positive affect on State Department culture.
The report we examine today is an important contribution to the ongoing—and I hope—ever expanding effort to ensure that human rights and democracy building are at the core of U.S. foreign policy.
I commend and thank Assistant Secretary Lorne Craner not only for his strong personal and professional commitment to human rights but for his leadership in compiling this useful document.
In like manner, I congratulate Roger Winter for his extraordinary service to humanity, especially the disenfranchised, and refugees.
In many ways the report resembles an executive summary. We get hundreds of thumbnail sketches of robust initiatives in scores of countries.
Like many first reports however—and we saw this in the first human trafficking report 3 years ago—some countries are inexplicably excluded from the report.
For example, despite being classified as Tier III in the just released TIP report (in other words countries that failed to meet minimum standards regarding human trafficking and failed to make serious and sustained efforts to eliminate trafficking.) five countries—Greece, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Belize, and Suriname aren't even mentioned in this report. Surely the U.S. has undertaken important projects in each of these nations that a reasonable person would expect to be showcased in this report.
Page 14
And, as we all know, both Turkey and Kazakhstan perform poorly in other areas as well, including the use of torture, especially in extracting confessions.
Moreover, in the reports on other Tier III countries that are featured in the report including Liberia, Burma, Sudan and Cuba no mention is made of what is being done to mitigate trafficking.
Similarly, while the section on China contained some innovative initiatives designed to foster systemic reforms, no mention was made of the sanctions on population control programs. As Secretary Powell and the Department noted in findings on July 21, 2002, ''the PRC government publicly established and enforces detailed planned-birth policies with legal births distinguished from out-of-plan births. Fines on ''out-of-plan'' births are typically severe ''social compensation fees . . . (2–3 times the annual income of both parents) . . . This regime plainly operates to coerce pregnant women to have abortions in order to avoid the penalties . . .''
The human rights sanctions—the denial of funding to both China and the UNFPA—weren't mentioned.
I was also disappointed to see no mention of our response and strategy to China's terrible crackdown on the Uighurs in Xinjiang Province. Cloaked as an anti-terrorism campaign, somehow analogous to U.S. and coalition efforts, the Chinese have executed or imprisoned hundreds of Muslims.
Page 15
On the other hand, Jennifer Windsor of Freedom House points out that the report ''is a critical first step . . . an impressive compilation of a portion of the work the U.S. government is doing to promote democracy and human rights.''
Mr. LANTOS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me at the outset pay public tribute to you because I know of no one in either the House or in the Senate on the Democratic side or on the Republican side who is a more consistent, courageous, articulate, powerful spokesman for human rights across the globe than you are. I think it is appropriate that you are chairing this hearing.
Let me also note, and I am reluctant to single out anybody, that we have some of our nation's leading human rights advocates in the audience, and several of them will be testifying. Ambassador Kirkpatrick's work in this field is legendary. Secretary Koh and others have made incredible contributions to promoting the cause of human rights, and I want to recognize both Secretary Craner and Mr. Winter for their very impressive work. I also must say, Secretary Craner, that from purely a physical point of view and an aesthetic point of view you have outdone yourself with this project.
I think it is a coincidence that the President is in Africa as we open this hearing because his speech yesterday, and I hope all of you heard it, was yet another step in our 200-plus year history of closing the hypocrisy gap. We were way ahead of our human rights practices when we signed and issued and expressed our dedication to the most powerful documents in favor of human rights, and it was good to see the President yesterday at a place where slaves were gathered and sent on their horrendous journey to say mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Page 16
It is our collective guilt, and it is good to know that both President Clinton and President Bush have taken the time and trouble to visit Africa and to recognize a historical burden of horrendous proportions. Our whole history can be viewed as an attempt to close the hypocrisy gap between our stated objectives and the life we lead.
I think it is also important to recognize at the outset, Mr. Chairman, that one of our former colleagues, Congressman John Porter of Illinois, played a key role in the establishment of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus almost a quarter century ago, and he and I co-chaired that caucus for many years. Since his departure our colleague, Congressman Wolf, has taken the Republican Chair.
We often relegate human rights to the margins of American foreign policy. I always regret the lack of sustained attention that Congress pays to this most critical subject. Respect for human rights must be at the core not only of our foreign policy, but it must remain a pillar of American foreign policy.
By holding today's hearing at the Full Committee level, we are giving human rights policies the attention they fully deserve, and in issuing its first ever comprehensive report on U.S. human rights policy initiatives, the Department of State appears to have grasped the importance of this issue.
Of course, this landmark report was not spontaneous. It is a response to a requirement established in the Freedom Investment Act of 2002, which I sponsored, Mr. Chairman, and which was approved by the Committee and adopted as part of the State authorization bill in the last Congress.
Page 17
The report represents a major advance in our efforts to bring human rights into the core of our foreign policy because it breaks down the firewall we have long maintained between the State Department's reporting of human rights abuses in the annual Human Rights Report and its policy toward the violators.
This firewall was designed to insure that the State Department did not pull any punches in cataloging the sometimes massive human rights violations found in so-called allied countries such as Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan. Although this approach has been largely successful, it produces an ever-increasing hypocrisy gap between what we say and what we do.
If there ever was a justification for this gap during our long struggle with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, it surely died with the collapse of the Soviet empire. Like during the Cold War, the struggle against global terrorism requires that we confront, reform and sometimes even force change on regimes that commit gross human rights violations against their people.
The September 11 attack on the United States made it vividly clear to all of us that the bankrupt, corrupt and illegitimate regimes that are the worst violators of human rights also create cesspools of disaffection, intolerance and hatred that allows terrorists to thrive.
Mr. Chairman, the urgent need to confront these human rights violators and to expand democracy and the rule of law was the inspiration for the State Department report that we are reviewing here today. It is a good report, and I want to commend Secretary Craner for the report, but obviously, as with all reports, particularly first reports, there is a great deal of room for improvement. We will talk about this during the course of the hearing.
Page 18
I think the report in many ways would be more useful if there would be some critical evaluation of which of our policies worked, which of our policies have not worked, which of our policies need to be adjusted, modified, abandoned, changed, so that we have the best practices in our human rights and democracy programs.
I would like to say just a word, if I may, about those who feel that human rights is secondary to the achievement of U.S. foreign policy goals. Without moral authority, the world's one remaining superpower will be unsuccessful in the international arena. We must not abandon the moral authority that this country had during periods of its history, the moral authority which, for whatever set of reasons, has declined in recent times, and we must put it at the top of our agenda to restore that moral authority.
When a few of us many years ago invited the Dalai Lama to meet with Members, we met in a small meeting room with a handful of colleagues, but the room was permeated and filled with the moral authority of a Buddhist monk. It would be hard for us as a superpower to expect ever to attain the degree that a simple Buddhist monk can attain with his own behavior and values and thoughts and actions.
I think it is extremely important at a time when we have undisputed hard power presence on this planet, undisputed military capabilities which are desperately needed, and I am immensely grateful that we have that, that they will never take the place of the moral authority which is the foundation of our republic and which in many ways must be the foundation of our foreign policy.
Page 19
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I close, Mr. Chairman, I just would like to take 1 minute to mention a few individuals in the Department of State singled out by the department for special recognition. You already mentioned in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Laura Englebrect; in China Mark Lambert. I would like to, if you will allow me, add a few names of some of our finest Foreign Service Officers.
I know that the department had a tough time selecting these because there were so many who are doing an incredible job in the field of human rights, so let me just list Greg Chapman at Embassy Vientiane in Laos; John Cushing at Embassy Seoul in South Korea; David Garrenbeck at Embassy Yerevan in Armenia; Tobias Glocksman at Embassy Phnom Penh in Cambodia; John Godfrey at Embassy Ashgabat in Turkmenistan; Greg Hicks at Embassy Manama in Bahrain; and Stuart Tuttle at Embassy Bogata in Colombia. These are the heroes who in the field, often at great risk to their own physical safety, carry on the message of America's commitment to human rights.
During the years that you and I have served, Mr. Chairman, and as I look around the room all of our colleagues have met and spent time and visited with those Foreign Service Officers whose portfolio includes human rights. I remember over 20 years ago in the Soviet Union it took a lot of courage for our Moscow Embassy people tasked with dealing with refuseniks and dissidents and human rights advocates to do the things that they did.
I want to commend Secretary Craner for including these outstanding Foreign Service Officers in your report, and I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Mr. Lantos. Thank you for your kind remarks.
Page 20
I would just say that the feeling is mutual. You have been a stalwart in the area of human rights. We have traveled together, and no one can articulate the position more effectively than you, so thank you for your tremendous work.
I would like to welcome our Assistant Secretary, Lorne Craner, to the Full Committee. Mr. Craner was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor on June 4, 2001. Mr. Craner coordinates U.S. foreign policy and programs that support the promotion and protection of human rights and democracy worldwide.
Prior to his appointment, he served as President of the International Republican Institute, which conducts programs outside the U.S. to promote democracy, free markets and the rule of law. He served as President of IRI from 1995 until assuming his current appointment.
I would also like to welcome Assistant Administrator Roger Winter. Mr. Winter was sworn in as Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance for USAID on January 31, 2002. He also served as USAID's Director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.
For 10 years prior to joining USAID, Mr. Winter served as Executive Director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees. He has also held administrative positions in refugee resettlement during both the Carter and the Reagan Administrations.
Secretary Craner, please proceed.
Page 21
Before you do so, without objection all of the testimonies by our distinguished witnesses today will be made a part of the record, and any opening statements by any of my distinguished colleagues likewise will be made a part of the record.
Secretary Craner?
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE LORNE W. CRANER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Mr. CRANER. Thank you, Chairman Smith and Members of the Committee. On behalf of Secretary Powell, I am proud to formally present to the Committee on International Relations the new State Department report entitled Supporting Human Rights and Democracy. The State Department welcomed this reporting requirement and the opportunity to catalog the steps we are taking to promote human rights worldwide. We also want to acknowledge the essential role of this Committee in the creation of this report.
Chairman Smith, over the years you have worked tirelessly to advance human rights and democracy and to press our Government to address these needs. We want to thank you for holding a Full Committee hearing to focus attention on this report. I know the legislative calendar in July is especially full, and this hearing yet again clearly demonstrates your commitment to these issues.
Mr. Lantos, you were the source of the legislative language that resulted in this report. This is the latest example of your long record of leadership in the field of human rights and democracy.
Page 22
I also want to publicly thank those who worked very hard to produce this volume. Special thanks in my office to Liz Dugan, Sally Builcema, Rob Jackson and Cynthia Bunton and their staffs who worked so hard on this report, and to those outside my bureau. This volume would not have been possible without the contributions from hundreds of officers, both throughout the State Department, with AID and with other agencies.
I am especially grateful that you have noted those names in the back of the book of people who really go out of their way, often into danger, to try and advance human rights and democracy in those countries.
I had the privilege of testifying at the end of April in front of the Subcommittee on International Terror, Non-Proliferation and Human Rights to discuss another report that my bureau publishes, the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. This document has a hard-won reputation over many years, including those that preceded my tenure, for being the most comprehensive, accurate volume on human rights conditions around the globe.
I described the report, among other things, as a call to action to direct our efforts on democracy promotion and human rights protection, and that is what brings us here today. For all their value in spotlighting human rights abuse, the Country Reports do not answer the very simple question: What are you doing about it?
This new annual report answers the ''what are you doing about it'' question for 92 of the world's most serious human rights violators. It identifies, in a systematic way, how the U.S. is integrating policy with reporting on human rights. As it demonstrates around the world in every region, the U.S. is implementing programs, advancing policy, taking advantage of the information and understanding of global human rights that we have built up over the years in the annual Human Rights Report.
Page 23
We will not shy away from criticizing human rights violations abroad, but we also want to go beyond that and take concrete steps to help the builders of democracy. In short, the report illuminates the fact that our support for human rights is more than a once-a-year exercise in identifying abuses. It is a day-in/day-out effort at the Department of State, AID and U.S. missions overseas.
Since becoming Assistant Secretary 2 years ago, I have defined several priorities for my bureau. One is Central Asia, where we have doubled, and in some cases quadrupled, our resources to advance human rights and democracy since September 11, 2001. Another new area is the Middle East, which for decades had been considered the democratic exception. Those days are over, especially as the United States-Middle East Partnership Initiative comes on line.
Another area is China, which we referred to earlier, and where we note increased pressure inside the country for political reform. This year, for the first time ever, the Bush Administration is not only supporting dissidents outside of China. We are supporting those inside China who are trying to advance structural reforms. We know we will not see change in all these cases overnight, but they offer the best hope for democracy in these regions.
As this report indicates, you should know that the new frontiers of the Middle East and the Muslim world in general have not led us to forget other parts of the world. In just the last week, at President Bush's request, former Secretary of State James Baker traveled to Georgia in a very successful effort to speak to his old colleague, now President, Severdnadze about upcoming elections.
Page 24
In the last few days, President Bush sat down with the leaders of eight West African countries—Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Mali Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone—to talk about how we can better aid the development of human rights in their countries.
This week we requested at a very high level the release of a number of prisoners in Laos. They arrived in Bangkok today. This week, my office committed to fund an effort in Guatemala that we hope to come to fruition, to appoint a commission to investigate recent human rights abuses by the country's ''dark forces.''
On a global scale, all these hopes are represented in one of our highest priorities to reshape the incentives for democratization through the Millennium Challenge Account, which will provide another vehicle for reducing the gap between human rights ideals and actual practices.
Encouraging democracy and human rights is no longer an exclusive purview of the United States, as we have seen in a number of important international developments. Last November, government representatives from more than 100 nations met at the Community of Democracies Conference in Seoul and affirmed democracy as the best weapon to fight terrorism. One of our goals is to see more nations join the Community of Democracies through our diplomatic efforts and by aiding democratic endeavors through programs like the MCA and MEPI.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, we have tried to provide a report that is true to both the language and spirit of the mandating legislation that came out of this Committee. We have tried to make the link from reporting to policy. I accept your praise for this volume. I also accept your critiques. It is a first edition. While I am very, very proud of it, there are changes that many in my office can already see need to be made. We will take your remarks as well.
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I want to conclude by noting that democracy building has historically been a bipartisan issue. The best example that we can offer folks overseas, and I have seen this from my own personal experience, is that politics need not be a winner-take-all sport.
I look forward to working with this Committee, with both sides of the aisle, in promoting human rights and democracy overseas, for there remains much to do. Thank you again for this hearing. Thank you again for your commitment to human rights and democracy. I would be happy to answer your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Craner follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE LORNE W. CRANER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Chairman Smith and Members of the Committee, on behalf of Secretary Powell, I am proud to formally present to the Committee on International Relations a new State Department report entitled, ''Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2002–2003.'' As Secretary Powell says in the preface:
''This document complements our annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in substance and spirit, and details how we are applying the high standards of the Country Reports to the actions we are taking to decrease the number and severity of human rights abuses worldwide.''
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The Department of State welcomed this new reporting requirement and the opportunity to catalog the steps we are taking to promote internationally accepted human rights standards and norms. At the same time, we want to fully acknowledge the essential role of this Committee in the creation of this report.
Chairman Smith, over the years you have worked tirelessly to help human rights victims and to press our government to address their needs. We want to thank you for holding a Full Committee hearing to focus attention on this report; we know that the legislative calendar in July is very full and this hearing clearly demonstrates your commitment to these issues.
Mr. Lantos, you were the source of the legislative language in the FY03 Foreign Relations Authorization Act that resulted in the mandate for the Department to issue this report. This is just the latest example of your leadership in the human rights field.
Before continuing with a description of the report, I would also like to publicly acknowledge those who worked hard to produce this volume. I want to thank everyone in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for their hard work in compiling this report. Special thanks are due to Robert Jackson, head of the Office for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy, and his officers, as well as Cynthia Bunton and the officers who work for her in the Country Reports Office. I also want to thank those outside my bureau because this report would not have been possible without contributions from hundreds of officers from both regional and functional bureaus throughout the State Department, plus USAID, and other agencies, as well as employees of non-governmental organizations.