United States and Human Rights: Ending Lapse into Lawlessness

What must the next United States president do to reclaim Washington’s standing to promote human rights around the globe?Many aspects of President George Bush’s administration’s human rights policy have caused American moral authority to plummet, including its penchant for cosying-up to favoured dictators, equating democracy promotion with regime change, and undermining international standards such as the new treaty banning cluster munitions.But probably nothing has done more to tarnish Washington’s reputation in this area than the administration’s decision to combat terrorism without regard to US obligations under international human rights law.