Carroll Bogert’s
talk centered around the America as a human rights leader. She spoke as a member of Human Rights Watch
and shared the main sentiment of both her and her organization,” People in
power tend to abuse power...and they need to be watched.” Her general point when it came to America’s
role in human rights was that, yes, America is a leader in human rights and
should be encouraged to do more but that it also needs to address the human
rights issues within itself to better respond to violations around the
world. America can find itself on both
sides of the human rights issue, in many cases they are an ally but many they
prevent progress on human rights. An
easy side by side example of this is that the US was a key supporter of the ban
on landmines but they also violate the treaty in their military support of
South Korea. Human Rights Watch and
Bogert herself believe their role is to bring to light issues of human rights
inside and outside of the US so that the powers that be can take action.
Bogert took us
through the specific case of Central African Republic. This small African Nation was so small that
no one from outside could see the turmoil going on inside. Sectarian warring threatened to take the
issue to genocidal levels. Luckily it
did catch the eye of the Human Right Watch and they implemented their system;
investigate, expose, change. They used
their spills to bring this issue to the attention of the media but more
importantly the attention of the US government.
With their Power the US was able to mobilize both their assets and gain
the support of the UN. This prime
example of the success that human rights organizations and the United States
can have when they work together. They
brought the problem to light and the US was able to solve it and make the world
a better place.
We cannot yet call
the US a human rights champion because if we turn the lens back inside the US
there are many issues left unaddressed.
The Geneva Convention, which the US helped right, puts a strict ban on
torture yet the US is still only phasing out such systems. There were a few months there when Guantanamo
was a hot button issue but we no longer hear about it, and it is still
there. This is exactly the type of issue
that the Human Rights Watch wants the US to take a hard look at and it is one
that all Americans should respond to.
Bogert actually witnessed a hearing in Guantanamo herself. This is a trial but not the kind we would
expect for such individuals, they are judged in front of military commissions,
which is strange considering there are not members of the US military. They may not be torturing them any longer but
evidence gained from other prisoners through torture can be used in the trial. The significance of the HRW is that they are
trying to bring to light a rights violation that almost no one else cares about
even though it goes against all accepted forms of justice.
The US’s rights
violations are not restricted to an island off that coast, they are all
around. The HRW seeks to investigate,
expose and change crimes against immigrants, expedited removal of possible
refugees, juvenile life without parole and many more. It all goes to their mantra that those in
power need to be watched, in order to keep the US accountable both at home and
abroad. They are important for their
interest in bring the public consciousness the hardship of those without a
voice, that means a small country in Africa but it also means the struggle of
immigrant children who are put into overcrowded jail houses. They do the investigative work that citizens
and even the government do not have the time or resources for to provide all of
us the ability to help them make the change.
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