US State Department issues encyclopedia on human rights abuses
Regional-USA, Politics, 3/6/2007

The US State Departmesnt's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices is an "encyclopedia on human rights abuses" for government leaders, embassy officials, activists and others monitoring human rights and can serve as a road map for improvements, a State Department official said Friday.

Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, senior director for strategic planning and external affairs for the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, told USINFO that the reports allow governments to see how the United States views each nation's human rights record.

Congress mandates the annual reports under a 1976 amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act, which requires the secretary of state to give Congress a report on the status of human rights in countries receiving US security assistance. Over the years, the reports have been expanded to provide a comprehensive global picture of human rights, including practices in countries which do not receive US assistance. The upcoming reports examine the status of human rights in 2006 in 196 countries and entities and is expected to be given to Congress and then released to the public in the coming days.

The reports can promote dialogues with countries interested in discussing their human rights record, Bibbins Sedaca said. Countries have used the reports to improve dialogue with their civil society and in their own internal debates and discussions. The Millennium Challenge Account also can draw on information found in the reports when determining a country's eligibility for grants.

The reports review the status of internationally recognized individual, civil, political and worker rights as set forth in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A country's report might include information about the country's respect for human rights, trial procedures, treatment of political prisoners, respect for civil liberties such as freedom of speech, and election practices.

Information used in the reports is gathered throughout the year by State Department officials in Washington and at overseas posts. Embassies investigate the human rights situation in their countries by talking with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government officials and by reviewing media reports.

For the first time, the 2006 reports will include a section in each country's report regarding respect for freedom of speech on the Internet. Although the growth of the Internet is a great trend for democratization, Bibbins Sedaca said, it has been paired with a trend of governments wanting to control the use of the Internet. The Internet threatens repressive governments because it threatens their control, she said. The more information people are getting from the Internet, the less governments can control the minds and information flow of their citizens, Bibbins Sedaca said. Now people can go online and read the human rights reports and see what activists are saying.

Additionally, the upcoming reports will have more coverage of the treatment of NGOs. As NGOs are becoming more capable of representing citizens' interests, governments are feeling more threatened and seeking to limit their operations, Bibbins Sedaca said. Governments are using a variety of methods to do this, ranging from arrest and imprisonment to administrative or regulatory tactics such as registration requirements or heavy taxations that make it burdensome for an NGO to do its work.

A report reviewing US efforts to end human rights abuses worldwide is produced annually as well. Supporting Human Rights: The US Record is expected to be released in about a month.

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