American Kenneth Roth will leave the important human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), which he led for nearly 30 years, in August, HRW announced on Tuesday.
“It’s time to pass the torch,” the HRW director, 66, said on Twitter, without giving a specific reason or detailing his future plans. He was pleased to have, with his teams, “built a leading force in the defense of the rights of people around the world”.
Under the leadership of the US attorney, “HRW has grown from a team of approximately 60 people with a budget of $7 million to a staff of 552 covering more than 100 countries with a budget of nearly $100 million,” HRW wrote in a statement.
In 1997, the organization was co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for its action against anti-personnel landmines.
Under his leadership, writes HRW, the organization documented war crimes and crimes against humanity in Liberia, the former Yugoslavia, Peru, and played “an important role in the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC ) in 2001”, despite strong resistance from the United States.
Mr. Roth has also “globalized the advocacy activities” of HRW by establishing offices in Brussels, London, Tokyo, Sydney, Johannesburg…
In 30 years, “Kenneth Roth has inevitably made many enemies”, recalls the press release.
“Despite being Jewish (and having a father who fled Nazi Germany when he was 12), he was attacked for Human Rights Watch’s criticism of Israeli government abuses. “, quotes HRW.
Rwanda also strongly criticized HRW after the organization reported on the crackdown under President Paul Kagame, and the Chinese government ‘sanctioned’ Mr Roth and expelled him from Hong Kong in 2020, the organization recalls. .