8/27/2010 Tracking Human Rights Worldwide: Stat…

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Topics: Dem ocracy

Keywords: hum an rights, Country R eports, U.S. State Departm ent

23 February 2010

Tracking Human Rights Worldwide: State Dept. Country Reports

Country Reports essential element to promote human rights worldwide

U.S. Department of State

Bureau of Public Affairs
February 23, 2010

Fact Sheets: Tracking Human Rights Worldwide: The State Department Country
Reports

“We stand for democracy not because we want other countries to be like us, but
because we want all people to enjoy the consistent protection of the rights that are
naturally theirs, whether they were born in Tallahassee or Tehran.”

— U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

The values the United States embrac es – the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness – are grounded in a universal truth. They are not an American inheritanc e,
but are the birthright of every woman, man, and child.

Country Reports on Human Rights

The Country Reports are an essential element of the U.S. effort to promote respect
for human rights worldwide. They inform U.S. government policymaking and may serve
as a reference to other governments, international institutions, non-governmental
organizations, human rights defenders and journalists. The Country Reports aim to
advance worldwide efforts to end abuses, to help strengthen the capac ity of
countries to protect the human rights of all, and to shine a spotlight on countries
that fail to live up to international human rights standards.

The Country Reports assess each country’s situation independently against universal
human rights precepts and each Country Report is intended to stand on its own. They
are not compared to each other or placed in any order other than alphabetically by
region.

Human Rights in the United States

America’s open, democratic system allows U.S. c itizens and people abroad to
comment on U.S. policies without fear. The American system of government is not
infallible; it is accountable. The U.S. democratic system provides a variety of self-
correcting mechanisms, suc h as a robust civil society, a vibrant free media,
independent branches of government – including the courts – and a well established
rule of law.

The focus of the Country Reports is on the human rights performance of other
governments. However, the U.S. does examine its own human rights record in periodic
reports required by treaties to which it is a party. For example, the U.S. reports to a
range of UN bodies, inc luding the Committee Against Torture, the Human Rights
Committee, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as well as the Human Rights Council.

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process is
a unique way of evaluating the human rights records of each of the 192 UN Member
States onc e every four years. The United States human rights record will be reviewed
in December of 2010 based on a report submitted by the U.S. Government as well as
input from civil society organizations.

What’s new about the Country Reports this year?

• Reporting on prison conditions reflects new legislation for assistanc e to

governments that make progress on improving prison conditions

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8/27/2010 Tracking Human Rights Worldwide: Stat…
• A new section on workers’ rights

• Reporting on countries’ initiatives to expand press freedom and their results

• Broader coverage of child soldiers, reproductive rights, and practices that threaten
the health, well-being, or livelihoods of indigenous persons

• Expanded coverage of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transgendered (LGBT) persons, as well as a section on “Other Societal Discrimination”
covering persons with HIV/AIDS

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dionycastro 3 months ago

Please send a FBI list buildings in Peru. IN Washington DC 2010......

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