President Donald H. Trump’s record of human rights during his first year at the White House was a “disaster” and encouraged repression by tyrannical leaders from China to Russia, Human Rights Watch said.
Kenneth Roth was speaking before the organization’s annual report was issued in Paris. He said French President Emmanuel Macron needed to fill the void left by countries such as Britain engaged in the process of getting out of the European Union and the United States, which is largely absent from the human rights scene.
“Trump was a disaster for the human rights movement, in part because he has a strong desire to embrace people who can govern without democratic checks,” Roth said in an interview.
“Trump seems to want to do it himself, which makes it difficult for the human rights movement to support human rights, because we are gaining strength from our ability to expose tyrannical governments.”
Roth pointed out that Russia and China are “intensively cracking down” against opponents. Trump “found that he was making political gains when he acted as a racist” after describing African countries as “scum”, he said.
Roth said the New York-based organization issued its report in Paris to highlight Macron’s role in curbing the rise of the far right in Europe, but also sent a signal to the French leader that the world expects more human rights.
Since taking office in May, Macaron has been criticized for raising human rights issues only with countries that pose a limited threat to France while avoiding national interests.
Roth said Macaron was strong with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but showed weakness elsewhere.
He cited Macaron’s visit to China, where he spoke little about rights, his lack of support for an inquiry into what Saudi Arabia was doing in Yemen, and his statement to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that he would not lecture him on human rights.
“It is easy to defend human rights when it is not expensive,” he said. “But when it deals with Chinese or Saudi contracts or deals with Egypt’s potential counterterrorism assistance … Macron is more reluctant to support human rights.”
