The U.S. State Department has issued a summary of America’s fight for human rights. We provide the text:
The Trump administration has made the protection and promotion of human rights a priority. The U.S. State Department outlined its 2019 activities in this area:
In 2019, governments in Iran, China, Russia, and Syria, as well as the former Maduro regime in Venezuela, as well as many others, continue to suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief. The United States consistently took and will continue to take action to ensure these and other human rights violations and abuses are not ignored. Our focus remains on calling out governments and other actors when they commit serious abuses and pressing to hold them accountable. We seek to lend our voice to the voiceless.
As always, we have raised human rights cases and concerns bilaterally and multilaterally, publicly and privately. We have provided advice and assistance to governments seeking to reform and strengthen their democratic institutions. We have funded programs to empower local NGOs and citizens to build foundations for transparent governance, support access to justice, accountability for atrocities, and to document human rights abuses. And where appropriate, we’ve used sanctions and multilateral mechanisms to promote accountability and protect civilians from atrocities.
Among the most significant actions we have taken over the past year, year and a half or so, is our increasing use of our visa restriction authorities. Since the beginning of FY2019 – that would be September, 2018 – the Department of State has announced over 100 designations of foreign officials and their immediate family members in countries across every region of the world for their involvement in gross human rights violations and corruption, under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act.
Similarly, we have worked closely with the Treasury Department to designate 97 individuals and entities for their roles in corruption and serious human rights abuse under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program. We have also worked with Treasury to make six designations under the Russia Magnitsky sanctions program, including a designation of the organizer of the 2015 killing of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and other Chechen officials who were implicated in the horrific campaign of mass detentions and torture of LGBTI persons. We took punitive action in a number of other areas of serious concern as well.
On China, the Secretary has led a global effort to call the communist party to account for its wide range of violations and abuses, including the detention of over 1 million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other Muslim minority communities in Xinjiang. In October, for instance, the department announced a new visa restriction policy under which we have restricted the visas of those Chinese Government and Communist Party officials who are believed to be responsible for or complicit in the detention or abuse of Muslim individuals in Xinjiang. This action was taken in conjunction with the Department of Commerce’s imposition of export controls on a number of entities complicit in those same abuses.
At the UN’s Third Committee, we worked with likeminded partners to develop a joint statement on Xinjiang, which was signed by 23 countries, including Albania, the first Organization of Islamic Cooperation member-state to participate in a joint call to action on Xinjiang’s human rights crisis.
On Iran, in his December 19 speech and elsewhere, Secretary Pompeo has made clear that the United States and the international community expect the Iranian regime to treat its people with the dignity that all human beings deserve, and to fulfill the human rights obligations and commitments both under Iranian law and in treaties to which it is a party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. To this end, the United States imposed sanctions on a number of Iranian persons and entities responsible for human rights abuses over the past year, as well as two Iranian Revolutionary Court judges who have repeatedly punished Iranian citizens and dual nationals for exercising their freedoms of expression or peaceful assembly.
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In 2019, we also took significant action on the deplorable human rights situation in Nicaragua. We restricted visas and imposed targeted sanctions under the Nicaragua Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2018, the Global Magnitsky sanctions program, and Executive Order 13851. So far, we have imposed sanctions on Vice President Rosario Murillo and other members of the Ortega family, the head of Nicaragua National Police, the president of the Nicaragua National Assembly, and the minister of health, among others. By the end of 2019, we had taken action on a total of 15 individuals and five entities.
We have also sought to seize opportunities for improvements in human rights, rule of law, and democratic governance in a number of countries where there have been openings. We will continue to make this a priority in the coming year.
In Sudan, for instance, we supported the first steps towards the country’s historic transition to democratic civilian rule.
In Ethiopia, we continue to support Prime Minister Abiy’s ambitious reform efforts and his plans to hold free and fair elections later this year.
In Angola, we revived our human rights dialogue with the government and are working closely with it to advance fundamental freedoms and address the serious corruption that has plagued that country for so long.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we are encouraging President Tshisekedi to advance democratic reforms and plan to hold our first human rights dialogue with his government in the near future.
In Bolivia, we are working closely with the transitional government to ensure free and fair elections that are credible in the coming year.
In Armenia, following a historic change in the 2018 Velvet Revolution, the U.S. has expanded assistance to help the government combat corruption, improve governance and political processes, and lay the groundwork for a transparent, accountable, and effective justice sector.
In Malaysia, we’re continuing to support the new government’s reform efforts while bolstering the capacity of civil society.
We also took action to bolster the department’s capacity to identify and respond to significant abuses and atrocity risks. In 2019, we held the first-ever State Department field training on atrocity prevention for U.S. embassy staff abroad. Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, we trained 52 U.S. Government employees working at 28 U.S. embassies and consulates throughout Africa.
Beyond atrocity prevention, we also train embassy officials and local staff on labor rights, such as freedom of association and forced and child labor. In 2019, we coordinated interagency training sessions on labor in Washington, Bratislava, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat, Mexico City, and Addis Ababa for a total of more than 125 officials.
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