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At the head of the organization, Kenneth Roth believes that the lack of firmness of democratic regimes allows autocrats to rise to power.
Kenneth Roth, in Geneva, Tuesday January 11, 2022.
AFP
The inability of democratic leaders to effectively defend the fundamental values of democracy has allowed autocrats to rise to power around the world, the boss of Human Rights Watch criticized in an interview with AFP.
In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and the growing angst over the impending climate catastrophe, “our fear is that if the Democratic leaders do not rise to the occasion and do not show visionary leadership that the current situation requires, they will generate despair and frustration, so much fertile ground for the autocrats, insists Kenneth Roth, interviewed Tuesday at his home in Geneva.
And, in fact, the annual report of the organization, which occupies a preeminent place in the denunciation of human rights abuses, seems to highlight a rise in authoritarian regimes or at least in grip. The 750-page document, published Thursday, notes the severe repression against opponents of power in China, Russia, Belarus and Egypt.
But it also chronicles the military coups in Burma and Sudan and the emergence of strong men in countries considered to be democracies: Hungary, Poland, Brazil, India and, until recently. over a year, United States.
Haunted by January 6
For Kenneth Roth, a former US federal prosecutor, democracy in his home country “remains clearly threatened today”, even though Donald Trump and his supporters have failed in their attempt to prevent the rightfully elected Joe Biden from taking the Presidency.
He fears that the assault given to the Capitol on January 6, 2020 and narrowly pushed back, is only “the beginning” and that “a much more sophisticated effort is underway with the objective of the next presidential election” in 2024. “He It is urgent to defend democracy in the United States “, judges the man who has headed HRW since 1993. However, he” does not share the received idea that authoritarianism is advancing and democracy is retreating “, judging that a a number of autocrats around the world are in an increasingly vulnerable position.
Whether it is because of vast coalitions of parties which ally themselves to drive out “corrupt autocrats” as in the Czech Republic and in Israel or the massive and repeated demonstrations which jostle the juntas in Burma and Sudan, in spite of a sometimes mortal danger.
“There is an ongoing struggle and very strong resistance against those who want to re-impose or perpetuate authoritarianism,” according to Kenneth Roth. These oppositions have forced the strong men to drop the mask and abandon the rags of democracy as in Russia, Uganda, Hong Kong and Nicaragua.
“Zombie elections”
But the “zombie elections” organized after having eradicated the opposition, muzzling the media and banning all demonstrations by opponents, do not “confer the legitimacy” that these regimes were looking for. And the authoritarian maneuvers thus exposed can give leverage to democratic forces, thinks Kenneth Roth. But, for the time being, too many leaders who hold democracy do not sufficiently emphasize its benefits.
“There is dissatisfaction with democratic leaders all over the world, especially because large sections of democratic societies feel left out,” Kenneth Roth continues, adding that “there is an urgent need for improve governance in democracies and have a more coherent approach to the defense of human rights in the world ”.
He took the example of the United States and Joe Biden’s promises to put human rights at the heart of his diplomacy: if, “unlike Trump, he doesn’t make all the autocrats ”, he nevertheless largely failed in fulfilling his commitments.
And Kenneth Roth quotes the current American government’s relations “with friendly authoritarian regimes like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel”. He acknowledges that Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders are “taking small steps” in the right direction. But this progressive strategy “is not adapted to the vast challenges which are presented to us or in fine to win in the test against authoritarianism”, warns Kenneth Roth.
(AFP)