U.S. Democracy Promotion Report
The U.S. Department of State issued a new report April 5, called “Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record.” Unlike the Congressionally-mandated annual report on human rights, this one goes to Congress with a focus upon democracy promotion.
RFE/RL has an interview with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Erica Barks-Ruggles (wonder how she gets all that on her business card) that discusses the report’s purpose and briefly summarizes democratization efforts in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as undertaken by the United States.
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are on the South and Central Asia portion of the report; China is listed in the East Asia and Pacific portion, but Xinjiang is not specifically addressed. Where was Mongolia in this report? If someone finds it, please tell me where I missed it.
One big rollback for civil society in Central Asia has been the loss of status for non-governmental organizations. Guiding diplomatic principles of the U.S. on the treatment of NGOs here.
Photo: Evatt Foundation
April 11th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Mongolia should appear in the East Asia and Pacific section, but it doesn’t get a mention anywhere in the document.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Thank you, Nathan, I was afraid my eyes were going. . . Bon
April 11th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
You know, it’s interesting when you search State’s website for “Xinjiang.” The first several times it’s mentioned apart from a laundry list of Chinese provinces is in relation to Islamic Extremism. Kind of confusing the chicken and the egg, don’t you think?