U.S. Will "Remain Relentless" In Trying To Stop Human Rights Violations, Blinken says

Top U.S. diplomats on Thursday pledged to "remain relentless" in trying to stop human rights violations worldwide by putting a spotlight on it, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Secretary Antony Blinken held an end of year presser at the State Department's briefing room. "We continue to see abusive practices in many places," he said when asked about using American leverage and influence to address human rights globally.

"... It's something that President Biden felt very strongly about putting back at the center of our foreign policy, and we’ve done that," he said, citing Washington's actions in shining a spotlight on human rights abuses.

The U.S. has been rallying other countries to speak out, stand up, and take action against human right abuses, he said. "We’ve done that in the actions that we’ve taken ourselves," he added.

In the meantime, he admitted that while human rights is at the heart of U.S. foreign policy, it’s "not the totality of our foreign policy."

"It’s one of the critical elements that we look at and try to advance, but in every instance we have to balance a multiplicity of interests. And at the same time, we have to make judgments about what is ultimately the most effective way to try and advance our commitment to human rights," he said.

"And most of this, as with a lot of the things we do, are not like flipping a light switch.  A lot of this is turning an aircraft carrier, and it takes time and it takes relentless effort," Blinken added.

There are "lots of places" where we’ve seen human rights abuses committed in the context of larger conflicts, according to Blinken. "One way to make sure that we’re actually getting at the upholding of human rights and the end of abuse is to try to resolve those conflicts," he said, referring to Yemen, Ethiopia and other countries.

"In Ukraine, where we see human rights abuses being committed on an almost daily basis by Russian forces, we’ve put a bright spotlight on that," he added.

The Secretary went on to counclude, "The reality, of course, is that we continue to see abusive practices in many places.  We will remain relentless in trying to stop it, to put a spotlight on it.  And there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. We’re looking at each case, each instance, each place on its own terms, trying to make judgments each time about how we can actually be most effective in bringing these abuses to an end."

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.