World Report: Governments Soft-Talking Abusers
"Too many governments are accepting the rationalizations and subterfuges of repressive governments, replacing pressure to respect human rights with softer approaches such as private "dialogue" and "cooperation", Human Rights Watch said when releasing its World Report 2011 on Jan 24, 2011.
"The ritualistic support of ‘dialogue' and ‘cooperation' with repressive governments is too often an excuse for doing nothing about human rights," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "The EU's ‘constructive dialogues' are among the most egregious examples of this global trend."
Dialogue and cooperation are important for addressing human rights concerns, and achieving cooperation is a key goal of human rights advocacy, Human Rights Watch said. But when there is a lack of political will to respect rights, pressure changes the cost-benefit analysis that leads a government to choose repression.
When governments expose or condemn abuses, condition military aid or budgetary support on ending violations, or call for prosecution and punishment of those responsible, it raises the cost to abusive governments, Human Rights Watch said.