Research

After almost compete silence on the issue of human rights during his trip to Asia, Obama will speak tonight during the second annual Robert F. Kennedy Center For Justice & Human Rights awards ceremony at the White House.  But despite his oratory, the President’s track record on human rights is deeply troubling: since taking office, the Obama administration has failed to make human rights a priority.  The magazine, Der Spiegel, notes that unlike past administrations, President Obama skirted human rights issues, ignoring the repressive actions of the Chinese regime, while in Asia.

The White House did not even stand up for itself when it came to the question of human rights in China. The president, who had said only a few days earlier that freedom of expression is a universal right, was coerced into attending a joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, at which questions were forbidden. Former US President George W. Bush had always managed to avoid such press conferences.

This should be no surprise, as Michael Gerson noted in a September The Washington Post column, when President Obama rejected inviting the Dalai Lama to the White House while visiting Washington, DC.

Rebuffing The Dalai Lama Is Part Of A Pattern… Support For Iranian Democrats Has Been Hesitant. Overtures To Repressive Governments In Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, Syria And Egypt Have Generally Ignored The Struggles Of Dissidents And Prisoners In Those Nations. So Far, The Obama Era Is Hardly A High Point Of Human Rights Solidarity.

President Obama’s actions continue to give human rights groups “reasons to be concerned.”  When the President speaks tonight at the awards ceremony, he should listen to the inspiring activists, take serious note of their humbling stories, and finally give human rights the attention it deserves.  So far he has not.  If this is the change Obama promised during his campaign, then activists around the world will continue to be gravely disappointed.