I would like to thank the American branch of the International Law Association for inviting me here today. It\u27s a pleasure to join such a distinguished group of business people, scholars, and community leaders

Smith, Gare A.

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A HUMAN RIGHTS AGENDA FOR THE NEXTADMINISTRATIONGare A. Smith"I would like to thank the American branch of the International LawAssociation for inviting me here today. It's a pleasure to join such adistinguished group of business people, scholars, and community leaders.I bring the warmest regards of Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck,who had very much looked forward to attending today. He was,unfortunately, called to The Hague for an emergency meeting regardingthe War Crimes Tribunal-a good example of the Clinton Administration'shuman rights policy in action.It is often said that "the past is prologue." The ClintonAdministration's human rights agenda in its second term will be certain tocapitalize upon the successes of the first term. To this effect, I'd like todiscuss what we in the Administration have been doing-and will continueto do-to promote respect for human rights.There are many reasons why respect for human rights plays animportant role in our foreign policy. Three of these reasons stand out.First, as Vice President Gore recently put it, the United States ofAmerica stands for something in this world. People all across the globelook to us as a model of freedom, respect for human dignity, and justiceunder law. This is one of our proudest legacies, and the American peoplewant us to put these ideals into practice.Second, our dedication to universal values is a vital source ofAmerica's authority and credibility. We cannot lead, and we cannot be abe a world leader, without it.Our interests are most secure in a world where accountablegovernment strengthens stability, and where the rule of law protects bothpolitical rights and free market economies.Open borders, transparent legal systems, and respect for freedomof speech are fundamental values to individuals and multinationals alike.A country that respects human rights is far more likely to be a goodcountry in which to transact business than one that does not.* Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Dept. ofILSA Journal of Int'l & Comparative LawThird, the costs to the world of repressive governments arepainfully clear. In the twentieth century, the number of people killed bytheir own authoritarian governments is four times the number killed in allthis century's wars combined. Even in 1996, after the end of the ColdWar, there are still millions of people who live under repressive regimesand authoritarian governments. It is their suffering, courage, and hopethat is the moral basis of our efforts.Today, people around the globe are engaging each other in waysthat transcend national borders. National economies are becomingintertwined. New technologies of communication and transportation,satellite TV, and the Internet are bringing people of different countries andcultures closer together, as are shared concerns about the environment, thepopulation explosion, and international terrorism.Meanwhile, the political and economic forces that are bringing theworld together are also driving it apart, as cynical and self-serving leadersfan the flames of nationalism into deadly ethnic conflict.In this complex interconnected world, it is becoming increasinglyurgent that we create new institutions of justice and new ways of resolvingconflicts.Ever since President Clinton took office, this Administration hassteadily worked to move human rights to the center of our foreign policy.We have worked with other countries to build new human rightsinstitutions, such as International War Crimes Tribunals, National HumanRights Commissions, and the new United Nations High Commissioner forHuman Rights.The Human Rights Bureau, has been given authority to overseethose parts of the foreign aid budget going to help new democracies.We have made an unprecedented effort to work with the businesscommunity to promote respect for human rights and worker rights in thecountries where they set up shop.We have, for the first time, integrated women's rights issues intoall aspects of our human rights policy. We saw to it that systematic rapewas defined as genocide under the Genocide Convention. We have wovenwomen's issues throughout the State Department's annual Country HumanRights Reports and successfully promoted the initiation of a substantialwomen's rights agenda throughout the United Nations system. At theFourth United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing we made ourposition unambiguously clear, that women's rights are human rights.This Administration has worked to strengthen the structure ofinternational human rights law, by winning ratification of the Conventionon Racial Discrimination, and by releasing the first report published by theUnited States Government on our own compliance with the International654 [Vol. 3:653SmithLaw of Human Rights. These efforts reflect our commitment to theuniversality of human rights principles and greatly enhance our owncredibility in pressing for human rights abroad.We have made a significant difference in specific countries. Haitihas its best chance for democracy in its history, thanks to an intensiveinternational effort led by the United States over the last three years. Weled the way in creating an International War Crimes tribunal to try theringleaders of the genocide that exterminated more than half a millionpeople in Rwanda two years ago. We are working with our NATO allyTurkey to curtail the human rights abuses of its military, and movetowards fuller democracy. We are running programs to train police andprosecutors in civil liberties in countries all across Eastern Europe andLatin America. And despite the difficulties we have encountered, we havemanaged to cast a spotlight on human rights abuses in China as neverbefore.I would like now to turn to Bosnia. The story of Bosnia, of thewar there and the diplomatic settlement that has ended the fighting, is thestory of our new world, of the challenges we will face, and of the ways weare learning to respond.Human rights have been at the heart of this terrible war from thebeginning. Leaders spurred ethnic cleansing by playing on people's fearsthat their rights would not be protected in the states emerging from theformer Yugoslavia. The conflict they set in motion generated some of theworst atrocities Europe has seen since World War II. And now that theconflict has a chance of ending, justice and respect for human rights areimperative.Only justice can lift the burden of collective guilt from a societyand place it on the shoulders of the perpetrators where it belongs. Withouta full accounting that holds those who committed the crimes of genocideresponsible for their a6tions, lasting reconciliation will lie beyond reach.The Clinton Administration has worked to stop the bloodshed, holdaccountable those responsible for war crimes, and ensure that the rule oflaw-not the rule of genocide-prevails. And the lessons we are learning inBosnia today can be put to good use tomorrow.To begin with, it was intensive United States diplomacy backed bycredible force that led to the Dayton Accords which ended the conflict.This unprecedented peace agreement synthesizes human rights, justice, andconflict resolution in a framework that offers the best chance of securing alasting peace.At Dayton, John Shattuck was the first Assistant Secretary forhuman rights to take an active part in a major diplomatic peace1997] 655ILSA Journal of Int'l & Comparative Lawnegotiation. This in itself was a new integration of human rights into themost serious issues of diplomacy, of war and peace.The Dayton Accords created a set of human rights institutions,including a Constitutional Court, a Human Rights Chamber, and anOmbudsman; provided for international monitoring of elections and humanrights performance; and obligated every party to cooperate with theinvestigations of the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague,however the chips may fall.And we were not starting from scratch in Dayton-we wereworking with the lessons of Haiti, where U.S. leadership and support forthe reconstruction of civil society, democratic institutions, and the rule oflaw was essential to ending a human rights catastrophe.This Administration has consistently, steadily, and successfullyhelped make international justice a reality in the hellholes of Bosnia,Rwanda, and now, if we succeed in our effort to create a permanentInternational Criminal Court, throughout the world.Since the Tribunal's inception in 1993, the Clinton Administrationhas been its steadiest and strongest supporter. We have given the Tribunalmore financial, logistical and political support than any other country.This has taken a lot of heavy lifting in a lot of bureaucracies, but we havestuck with it.At Dayton, we made sure that support for the Tribunal was anessential element of the Agreement, and binding on all parties. And ourmilitary forces in Bosnia have taken it upon themselves to provide a safeenvironment for the Tribunal's investigations and to assist its investigatorsin their work.The significance of the Tribunal's work goes far beyond thepresent-day conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda.The Tribunal is precisely the kind of human rights institution weneed to be creating in the post-Cold War world. Just as the postwargeneration rose to the task of creating new institutions that guided theinternational community for the next half-century, so too now it is ourresponsibility to create new transnational institutions of justice for theglobal community of the twenty-first century. Much of this work is slowgoing, and well removed from the headlines. But I am convinced that ourwork on creating institutions of accountability will stand, not only as asignificant achievement of this administration, but as one of our country'snoblest efforts.Half a century ago, the need for a global structure protectinghuman rights was given special urgency by the unprecedented horrors of656 [Vol. 3:653Smiththe Holocaust of World War II. But the foundation of that structure isembedded in the deepest values of every part of the world.Throughout modern history, when fundamental human values havebeen assaulted by governments and their leaders, humankind has turnedtoward self-destruction. That is what happened in the Nazi concentrationcamps, in the Soviet Gulag, in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, in thekilling fields of Cambodia, and more recently in the acts of genocidecarried out in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. These and othermassive human horrors live in our historical memory.Universal human rights are the measure of these horrors and ofour commitment to strive not to repeat them.It is in this arena of human rights institution-building, of creatingstructures of justice and accountability that will extend into the future andon which others can build, that the Clinton Administration has made itsgreatest contribution to the unending work of human rights.In closing, I would like to remember on whose behalf we labor inthe field of human rights, and on whose behalf a global structure ofprotection is being built. In this work we are responding to the pain andneed of men, women, and children on all continents, and to our owninterest as Americans in peace, security, and the ideal on which our nationwas founded.The challenges human rights advocates face today are greater thanwe had ever anticipated during the heady early days after the fall of theBerlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. Yet the new internationalenvironment offers unprecedented opportunities for the promotion ofhuman rights and human dignity.One of our greatest American heroes, the Reverend Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr., said that "the moral arc of the universe is long, but itbends towards justice." We all have a long way to go along that arc, butour nation and our Administration are committed to going the distance.19971 657

A Human Rights Agenda For The Next Administration

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A Human Rights Agenda For The Next Administration

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