PhotoWASHINGTON — Human Rights Watch on Thursday released its annual report on threats to human rights around the world, and for the first time in the 27 years it has done these surveys, the United States is one of the biggest. But Kenneth Roth, the organization’s executive director, said in an interview: “This is a more fundamental threat to human rights than George Bush after 9/11. Populist leaders are less susceptible to “naming and shaming,” the traditional way human rights groups pressure countries engaged in abuses, he said. Much of its advocacy has focused on pressing the United States to use its influence to curb human-rights abuses abroad. Even now, Human Rights Watch regularly faults the Obama administration.

Source: New York Times January 13, 2017 01:06 UTC