Human Rights Watch said today, Wednesday, that US President-elect Joe Biden should work with world leaders who have sought to support the defense of human rights around the world.
Human Rights Watch President Kenneth Roth said in his editorial marking the organization's release of the World Report 2021, "It is after 4 years of (the outgoing US President) Donald Trump's indifference to human rights and his often hostile behavior towards them, including his incitement to a mob attack on the Capitol building. Biden’s presidency provides an opportunity for radical change. "
He believed that the president-elect should set an example to cement the United States' commitment to human rights at home in a way that would be difficult for his successors to deviate from.
Kenneth Roth emphasized that Biden’s language should be anchored in the human rights covered in his work to expand health care, dismantle systemic racism, lift people out of poverty and hunger, fight climate change, and end discrimination against women.
Trump Accountability
He also stressed that Biden should allow Trump to undergo criminal investigations to send a clear message that no one is outside the rule of law.
In statements to Reuters, Kenneth Roth said that the US president-elect must work to restore his country's credibility with regard to human rights at home and abroad, after what the head of the human rights organization described as 4 years of underestimating democratic principles.
Before the organization’s annual report was released, he stated that Trump underestimated human rights at home, and his criticism of other countries ’records regarding these rights varied.
He told Reuters TV in Geneva, "Trump was a complete disaster for human rights, and he underestimated human rights at home, and the incitement to attack the Capitol building on January 6 is only the latest example of the natural culmination of 4 years of defaming democratic principles." ".
He added that Biden - who takes office on January 20 this year - must make human rights a cornerstone of US foreign policy.
Kenneth Roth called on Joe Biden to cancel arms deals for several countries, and to criticize the Indian prime minister for his policy towards Muslims, according to Reuters.
He also invited him to reconnect with the United Nations Human Rights Council, from which Trump withdrew in June 2018, "despite his criticism of Israel."