Geneva: US President-elect Joe Biden should bring ‘fundamental change’ to US policy on human rights, the head of ‘Human Rights Watch’ said Wednesday. Kenneth Roth, the advocacy group’s head said criminal investigations of President Donald Trump should be done to ‘show that the president is not above the law’. Roth lamented ‘four years of Trump’s indifference and often hostility to human rights’ and his support for autocratic leaders and dictators in ways that eroded US credibility.
Roth said the Joe Biden-led administration should look to cement human rights in US policy. It should decry past policies like George W Bush’s ‘War on Terror’ as well as intensified drone strikes and surveillance under Barack Obama.
“After four years of Trump’s indifference and often hostility to human rights, including his provoking a mob assault on democratic processes in the Capitol, the Biden presidency provides an opportunity for fundamental change,” Roth said.
But even as the US rejoins efforts to support human rights, Roth insisted it ‘would be naïve’ to treat a Biden presidency as a cure-all. He said Biden should also ‘allow justice to pursue its course with respect to Trump’.
The comments come as ‘Human Rights Watch’ issued its annual ‘World Report 2021’ that chronicles concerns about human rights in more than 100 countries around the world.