The Foreign Service Journal, May 2006

12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 6 sentence disclaimer in the report’s introduction — “The United States’ own journey toward liberty and justice for all has been long and difficult, and it is still far from complete” — is unlikely to quiet the criticism ( http:// news.independent.co.uk/world/ americas/article350100.ece ). At hearings on March 16, con- vened by the House International Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, Elisa Massi- mino, Washington director of Human Rights First, drew the legislators’ attention to “a substantial blind spot” in this year’s report: omissions and inaccuracies regarding secret deten- tions and renditions ( http://wwwc. house.gov/international_relations/ 109/mas031606.pdf ). The report includes criticism of a number of countries for engaging in a range of prisoner interrogation meth- ods that are similar to methods once approved by the Bush administration for use on detainees in U.S. custody. At the same time, it includes little or no discussion of the practice of rendi- tion. Human Rights Watch has docu- mented the citations concerning “dis- appearances” and secret detentions ( http://hrw.org/english/docs/ 2006/03/20/usint13038_txt.htm ). Massimino asked the committee to review the State Department’s guide- lines for drafting the reports. She noted that the 2002 HRR guidelines stated that actions by governments taken at the request of the U.S. or with its expressed support were not to be included in the report, adding that Human Rights First had been unable to see subsequent guidelines despite repeated requests. The country reports are “admir- able and comprehensive,” Neil Hicks, the director of international programs for Human Rights First, told The Free Press . But, he added, it is “regrettable that U.S. violations of human rights … make it easy for governments rightly criticized in the reports to point the finger back at the U.S.” In a related development, on March 15 the United Nations estab- lished a new Human Rights Council by an overwhelming vote, with the U.S. in almost lone opposition ( http:// www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hr council/ ). The old Human Rights Commission had its own serious credibility problems. Dictatorial and abusive regimes were members of the commission and used their votes to avoid censure. In the vote on the new council, the U.S. held out, among other things, for “hard” crite- C Y B E R N O T E S u 50 Years Ago... There is no single post today that is not of great importance. … As things are now, on the basis of my observation, the personal qualities of the members of our Foreign Service are often the decisive element. — Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, from a speech at the Foreign Service Institute on March 29, in “News to the Field,” FSJ , May 1956.