Text: Assistant Secretary Koh March 28 Geneva Press Briefing
(Koh: Human rights resolutions not confrontational)

He didn't mention China or Cuba by name, but in his opening statement to the international press in Geneva March 28, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Harold Koh promised that the United States "will call the conduct of certain other governments into account."

Koh is in Geneva to take part in the United Nations Human Rights Commission meeting that will examine whether the human rights failings of certain countries deserve the attention of the United Nations.

"We don't think that resolutions regarding particular countries in Geneva should be viewed as confrontational," Koh told reporters.

"We think it is simply asking them to abide by global rules that they themselves have acknowledged or accepted and asking them to play by those global rules in the global human rights forum," Koh said.

Following is the text of Koh's opening statement, as prepared for delivery:

(begin text)

Harold Hongju Koh
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor
Opening Statement at Press Briefing

March 28, 2000
Palais des Nations, Geneva

Thank you. Let me just say a few words. As you see from my biography, I am not a member of the U.S. Government by career. I am a professor of International Law at Yale University and I joined the U.S. Government about 15 months ago. During that time I've traveled now to some 40 countries and had bilateral discussions with 60 or 70 countries. This is the second time I've been fortunate enough to participate in the United States delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission. This is the first Commission of this millennium and I think it is going to be an extraordinarily important Commission. This is signaled for us already by the participation of Secretary Albright in the plenary last week. This is the first time in our memory, and we think in history, that a sitting Secretary of State came to the UN Human Rights Commission to address the session. That signals both the importance we place on the Commission and our commitment to the values of democracy and human rights that are being discussed.

Let me also say a word about the U.S. view of human rights generally. The United States is a Nation that was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all persons are created equal. We believe that human beings have certain inalienable rights among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That does not mean that we are a perfect nation, but we are trying constantly to be better and we are trying to live up to these principles, at home as well as abroad. We have many unfinished human rights challenges at home, and I am happy to discuss them. But we also think that the cause of human rights and democracy is served by discussing these issues openly wherever they occur. There is no forum in the world that is better suited to discuss these universal values than the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Our goal here is to compare human rights records with other nations, to welcome the participation of all, to examine our own conduct in light of universal standards, and to have an honest discussion according to these universal standards.

There are two basic themes for this year Human Rights Commission. First, promoting democracy as a mean of promoting human rights. Secondly, using global mechanisms to encourage nations to play by global rules. These were the two themes of Secretary Albright's statement which all of you have probably read. Let me note that as part of these two themes, we will call the conduct of certain other governments into account. We don't think that resolutions regarding particular countries in Geneva should be viewed as confrontational. We think it is simply asking them to abide by global rules that they themselves have acknowledged or accepted and asking them to play by those global rules in the global human rights forum.

Let me close by what I think is the most promising note, which is that in 1974, there were only 30 democracies in the world. That number, now by the latest count, is up to 120 of the194 countries in the world. More people live under freedom than at any time before in human history, and more than ever before in recorded memory. I think that, what this means, is that increasingly the focus of the UN Human Rights Commission would be on promoting human rights, not just directly, but by promoting the democracy and self-governance that makes human rights possible.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)


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