Narrator:
The U.S. State Department releases its Human Rights Report every year. After more than 30 years of publication, this report has proven to be a useful tool in many different ways. Having evolved far beyond the original one-page report on countries receiving U.S. aid, many groups around the world, and in America itself, now rely on the report. Michael Posner is the U.S. State Department’s assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor.
Assistant Secretary Michael Posner:
Activists in many countries rely on the report, both because it gives them information they can’t get from their own media and also because as a product of the United States government it has some extra importance and power. And so we find that a lot of activists not only read the report, they circulate the report, they cite the report. It gives them a sense of amplifying their own concerns and gives them some more authority in debating these issues within their own societies.
Narrator:
Part of the report’s impact is that it has created unprecedented awareness of these issues among citizens and policymakers. As a result, human rights are no longer considered separate from the high-profile areas like economics and national security.
Assistant Secretary Michael Posner:
You know, there are plenty of people outside the State Department who engage in foreign policymaking. And so, it’s really important that they’re brought into that discussion as well. I think there is a tendency often by governments that are chronic rights violators to want to isolate human rights off in the corner in dealing with the United States. So, Country X, I’m not going to mention names, but Country X will say, “We want to have a human rights dialogue.” And the idea is that there will be one day a year where they talk about all the human rights issues with me, or somebody like me, and then the rest of the time, they deal with the United States government about all the important stuff. And so I’m very keen that we not fall into that trap. And that if we’re having a strategic dialogue, or an economic dialogue, or whatever it is, that human rights be integrated into that so that it’s not just me saying it — it’s the secretary of the treasury, or the secretary of commerce, or the secretary of defense — and make it clear to governments that this is actually part of who we are and the way we conduct our foreign affairs.
Narrator:
The information that goes into the final Human Rights Report is collected by U.S. diplomats in embassies around the world. Posner tells us that a lasting impact has been achieved not only at the top levels of government policymaking, but also at the individual level, where human rights takes on a personal character.
Assistant Secretary Michael Posner:
People are very focused on the output, the reports themselves. I’ve always been as interested in the effect on the Foreign Service and the effect on the people producing the report. If you look back the 30 years that the reports have been done, there has been a remarkable change in the attitudes, approach of people working in U.S. embassies around the world because of the task of doing these reports. And so over 30 years, we’ve developed a culture where our diplomats are mandated by law to go out and meet union leaders and journalists and human rights activists and civil society — all sorts of people that were not traditionally at the center of what an embassy would be doing. And that has had an unbelievable impact in terms of the sensitivity of Foreign Service officers to what this is all about. I meet people all the time who tell me, “You know, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, I was a political officer in the embassy in X, Y, or Z, and doing that report just changed my outlook on the entire subject.” It’s really been transformative. To me that’s just another hidden benefit of this process.
Narrator:
This podcast is produced by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs. Links to other Internet sites or opinions expressed should not be considered an endorsement of other content and views.