Walking the Talk: 2021 Blueprints for a Human Rights-Centered U.S
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Walking the Talk: 2021 Blueprints for a Human Rights-Centered U.S. Foreign Policy October 2020 Acknowledgments Human Rights First is a nonprofit, nonpartisan human rights advocacy and action organization based in Washington D.C., New York, and Los Angeles. © 2020 Human Rights First. All Rights Reserved. Walking the Talk: 2021 Blueprints for a Human Rights-Centered U.S. Foreign Policy was authored by Human Rights First’s staff and consultants. Senior Vice President for Policy Rob Berschinski served as lead author and editor-in-chief, assisted by Tolan Foreign Policy Legal Fellow Reece Pelley and intern Anna Van Niekerk. Contributing authors include: Eleanor Acer Scott Johnston Trevor Sutton Rob Berschinski David Mizner Raha Wala Cole Blum Reece Pelley Benjamin Haas Rita Siemion Significant assistance was provided by: Chris Anders Steven Feldstein Stephen Pomper Abigail Bellows Becky Gendelman Jennifer Quigley Brittany Benowitz Ryan Kaminski Scott Roehm Jim Bernfield Colleen Kelly Hina Shamsi Heather Brandon-Smith Kate Kizer Annie Shiel Christen Broecker Kennji Kizuka Mandy Smithberger Felice Gaer Dan Mahanty Sophia Swanson Bishop Garrison Kate Martin Yasmine Taeb Clark Gascoigne Jenny McAvoy Bailey Ulbricht Liza Goitein Sharon McBride Anna Van Niekerk Shannon Green Ian Moss Human Rights First challenges the United States of America to live up to its ideals. We believe American leadership is essential in the struggle for human dignity and the rule of law, and so we focus our advocacy on the U.S. government and other key actors able to leverage U.S. influence. When the U.S. government falters in its commitment to promote and protect human rights, we step in to demand reform, accountability, and justice. When confronting American domestic, foreign, and national security policies that undermine respect for universal rights, the staff of Human Rights First focus not on making a point, but on making a difference. For over 40 years we’ve built bipartisan coalitions and partnered with frontline activists, lawyers, military leaders, and technologists to tackle issues that demand American leadership. Human Rights First is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Breen and Chief Operating Officer Nicole Elkon. We thank the many foundations and individual donors who provide invaluable support for the organization’s research and advocacy. This and other reports are available online at humanrightsfirst.org. Walking the Talk: 2021 Blueprints for a Human Rights-Centered U.S. Foreign Policy October 2020 Photo by Ted Eytan Table of Contents and Key Outcomes p.6 Introduction Chapter 1. Holding Human Rights Abusers and Corrupt Actors p.10 Accountable Through Global Magnitsky and Other Targeted Sanctions • Maintain, clarify, and codify EO 13818’s improvements to the Global Magnitsky Act • Minimize charges of selectivity and hypocrisy • Multilateralize sanctions designations through information-sharing and coordination with key partners • Ameliorate due process concerns by enacting a more robust administrative review and appeals procedure • Grow capacity and coordination at State and Treasury Chapter 2. Confronting Digital Authoritarianism By Stemming p.18 the Proliferation of AI-Enabled Surveillance Technology • Impose licensing requirements on the export of U.S. origin AI surveillance and biometric data collection technologies • Use the Global Magnitsky Act • Negotiate additions to Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) on export controls for conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies Chapter 3. Upholding Refugee Protection and Asylum at Home p.26 • End policies that endanger refugees, create chaos, and violate law • Manage arrivals in orderly, humane ways that uphold refugee law • Upgrade asylum adjudication systems to provide timely and fair decisions • Rebuild and strengthen U.S. leadership on refugee resettlement Chapter 4. Addressing Racial Injustice, Demilitarizing p.50 Law Enforcement, and Refocusing the Military on Defense • End the federalized and militarized response to protests • End militarization within law enforcement • Directly confront racism and bigotry within the military • End the flow of military resources to law enforcement • End the military’s role in immigration enforcement Chapter 5. Ending Endless War p.62 • End all operations under the 2001 and 2002 use of force authorizations • Shift away from war-based detention, trial, and lethal force • Adopt an appropriately tailored and rights-respecting approach to security • Use military force only as a last resort and with authorization from Congress • Insist on essential safeguards in any future AUMFs • Support efforts in Congress to reform the War Powers Act Chapter 6. Closing Guantanamo p.68 • End indefinite detention at Guantanamo • End the military commissions Chapter 7. Minimizing and Accounting for Civilian Harm in p.74 U.S. Military Operations • Strengthen the civilian harm mitigation policy framework • Minimize and mitigate civilian harm across military operations • Address civilian harm arising from partnered operations and security assistance • Facilitate information exchange with third parties • Establish clear guidelines for assessing and investigating harm that prioritize outside consultations and transparency with the public • Prioritize condolence response and redress for those harmed • Include processes for learning and good practice Chapter 8. Overhauling U.S. Security Sector Assistance p.82p.x • Adhere to existing law • Amend the Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) Policy Chapter 9. Curbing Corruption at Home and Abroad p.92 • Close regulatory loopholes in the U.S. anti-money laundering framework by expanding beneficial ownership reporting requirements • Expand the applicability of “Geographic Targeting Orders” • Establish a new senior anti-corruption coordinator position within each of the State Department’s six regional bureaus Chapter 10. Rejoining the U.N. Human Rights Council while Advancing p.102 Real Reform • Rejoin the Human Rights Council and prioritize securing reforms Introduction American leadership on human rights has gone missing. As autocracies grow in strength and in number around the world, many have faced little, if any, pressure from the United States to curb their abuses. On the contrary, all too often in recent years what they’ve received from Washington has been a green light, at times in the form of a bad example. During its time in office, the Trump administration has pursued policies grounded in cruelty and xenopho- bia, from “Muslim bans” and family separation to a multi-pronged assault on the right to seek asylum.1 It has abandoned treaty obligations, disparaged international institutions, and derided America’s closest dem- ocratic allies, all the while embracing many of the world’s most odious dictators.2 Its senior-most leaders have expressed open disdain for institutions foundational to functioning democracy and freedoms en- shrined in both the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as a free press and an independent judiciary.3 America’s president has equivocated on white nationalism, employed racist language against African Americans and other racial minorities, and trafficked in antisemitic stereotypes.4 For the sake of every American and the Protests roiling America’s streets in the wake of the killing by law enforcement of George millions abroad who continue to look to Floyd and other Black Americans remain the United States as a beacon of hope, the a stark reminder of the chasm between the nation’s ideals and the lived experience of presidential administration that assumes many of its people. From systemic inequi- office in January 2021 should place high ties in criminal justice to brutal treatment of asylum seekers, human rights and equal on its agenda a commitment to rebuild treatment under law remain, for many with- America’s international stature. in the United States, a promise unfulfilled. Administration policies that seek to diminish protestors’ legitimate grievances have done little to improve matters, while the deployment of militarized federal agents to cities over the objections of local officials has exacerbated unrest. At the same time, across the globe, autocratic leaders are expanding their power, eroding the rule of law, and obscuring the line between truth and fiction. For the first time since 2001, a majority of the world’s population lives under non-democratic, rights-violating governments.5 This trend, which encompasses hardened dictatorships and backsliding liberal democracies alike, threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions, while undermining the world’s ability to meet today’s foremost global challenges, from climate 1 See Natasha Ampriester, Olga Byrne, Human Rights First, Punishing Refugees and Migrants: The Trump Administration’s Misuse of Criminal Prosecutions (Jan. 2018) available at https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/2018-Report-Punishing-Refugees-Migrants.pdf; see also Human Rights First, Fact Sheet: Grant Rates Plummet as Trump Administration Dismantles U.S. Asylum System, Blocks and Deport Refugees (Jun. 2020) available at https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/AdministrationDis- mantlingUSAsylumSystem.pdf. 2 See, e.g., Zachary B. Wolf, JoElla Carman, Here are all the treaties and agreements Trump has abandoned, CNN (Feb. 1, 2019) available at https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/ politics/nuclear-treaty-trump/index.html; Michael Pompeo, Remarks on the UN Human Rights Council, (Jun. 19, 2018) available at https://www.state.gov/remarks-on-the-