[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E479-E480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING KENNETH ROTH'S RETIREMENT FROM HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
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HON. STEVE COHEN
of tennessee
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Kenneth Roth,
Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, who has announced his
retirement after serving the organization for nearly 30 years at its
helm. During this time, he developed the organization to become a
leading defender of human rights with a budget of nearly $100 million
and over 500 staff operating in 100 countries.
Mr. Roth, a former federal prosecutor in New York and during
investigations of the Iran-Contra Affair, began his career in human
rights work as a volunteer for 6 years before joining HRW as Deputy
Director in 1987. At the time, HRW consisted of regional human rights
monitoring groups, including Helsinki Watch--a product of the 1975
Helsinki Accords to monitor compliance of human rights in Soviet bloc
countries that called for the ``naming and shaming'' of violators of
human rights--Americas Watch, Asia Watch, Middle East Watch and Africa
Watch. Jointly, the groups were known as ``The Watch Committees.'' The
year following his appointment as Deputy Director, the collective was
consolidated under the name Human Rights Watch. In 1993, Kenneth Roth
was named Executive Director of HRW following its first Director, Aryeh
Neier.
As Executive Director, Mr. Roth demonstrated an even-handed approach
to his position and has not shied away from bringing attention to human
rights violations committed by governments and individuals around the
world. HRW has brought to our awareness abuses occurring in Ethiopia,
Yemen, Egypt, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria and in China's Xinjiang
Uyghur Autonomous Region documenting repression of the Uyghur minority
population, to name a few countries. HRW reports have also criticized
U.S. administrations over the use of ``black sites'' and laws on
surveillance following the September 11 attacks, anti-immigrant and
anti-Muslim policies, and isolationist policies. Additionally, through
its staff reporting and advocacy, HRW reports have been instrumental in
investigations and convictions of warlords, wartime leaders and
individuals accused of committing human rights abuses, including
Liberia's Charles Taylor, Peru's Alberto Fujimori and Bosnian Serb
leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
Mr. Roth has also demonstrated that he is no stranger to ``good
trouble.'' Roth has received criticism from the Rwandan government over
HRW's reporting of genocide and other crimes committed by its
President, Paul Kagame. Additionally, he was denied entry into Egypt in
2014 over the report All According to Plan: The Rab'a Massacre and Mass
Killings of Protestors in Egypt, which placed responsibility for mass
killings of protestors following the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi
on senior officials, including then Defense Minister and current
President, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. He faced Chinese sanctions and was
similarly denied entry into Hong Kong, where he planned to release the
World Report 2020 showing Chinese policies to ``restrict freedom of
religion'' in Tibetan areas, forced and deceptive marriages through
``bride trafficking,'' violations of the Refugee Convention by
returning North Korean refugees, and forced detainment of Turkic
Muslims in ``political education'' camps--a tactic currently being used
by Russia against Ukrainian children.
Over the span of his 30-year career, Kenneth put feet on the ground
meeting with communities impacted by human rights violations, speaking
with over 2 dozen world leaders to address and end abuses, and leading
fact-finding investigative trips to over 50 countries, including Haiti,
Cuba, Kuwait, Iraq, and Syria. He focused HRW teams on issues
pertaining to women, children, and senior populations; refugees;
persons with disabilities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
people; poverty and inequality; climate change; and on human rights
abuses here in the United States of America. HRW began documenting
abuses in realtime with the aim of ending atrocities sooner rather than
later and incorporating videos and graphics in its reports as well as
using social media for advocacy. The organization supported bringing
perpetrators to justice through war crimes tribunals at the United
Nations Security Council and the creation of the International Criminal
Court as a body to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and
genocide. Kenneth pushed the ICC to
[[Page E480]]
prohibit cluster munitions and the use of child soldiers, and in 1997,
the HRW shared a Nobel Peace Prize for its work to ban antipersonnel
landmines.
As Kenneth Roth prepares to step down from his position amid Russia's
ongoing war in Ukraine, I am mindful of the human rights abuses being
committed in both Ukraine and inside of Russia at the orders of
Vladimir Putin. War crimes, crimes against humanity and strong evidence
of genocide abound in Ukraine. Political arrests, which HRW has
documented extensively in countries as nearby as Nicaragua and Cuba and
ones as far away as Uzbekistan, are taking place in Russia with the
arrest of protestors, journalists, politicians, and anyone who dares
speak out against Putin's war in Ukraine, including the recently jailed
Russian politician and journalist, Vladimir Kara-Murza. Kenneth Roth's
reports have criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which remains a
clear, gross, and uncorrected violation of Helsinki Final Accord
principles by Putin and his regime. In April 2022, HRW's operations in
Russia were suspended as part of Putin's silencing of criticism over
his unprovoked war.
In recognition of Kenneth Roth's 30-year leadership of Human Rights
Watch and the organization he has built to bring attention to human
rights abuses around the world and the recommendations he has made to
end and correct these atrocities, I ask my colleagues to join me in
saying job well-done and in wishing him well in his retirement. His
presence will surely be missed, but I am confident that the human
rights monitoring infrastructure put into place will remain strong and
that his leadership will serve as a guide for future leaders of HRW and
for all who work in the areas of human rights monitoring and advocacy.
____________________