The organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) hopes that the next president of the United States, Joe Biden, will redirect the country’s policies and favor respect for Human Rights, after four years of “indifference and often hostility” by the current president, Donald Trump.
HRW has sent a message to Biden coinciding with the presentation of his annual report, in which he calls into question some of the guidelines set by Trump, who has ended his term by “provoking” an assault on the headquarters of the United States Congress during the certification of the results of the November elections.
“The Biden presidency represents an opportunity for fundamental change,” said HRW CEO Kenneth Roth, who believes that America’s “credibility” as a country is at stake. In this sense, he has questioned whether Venezuela, Cuba and Iran can be punished while turning a blind eye to “friendly autocrats” or to governments such as Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
“The last four years show that Washington is an important but not indispensable leader in the field of Human Rights,” said Roth, who has applauded the emergence of new alliances that in many cases have filled the gap left vacant by the North American country in its fight for the defense of rights and freedoms around the world.
The Biden Administration “should unite, not replace” these “shared efforts, while the rest of the governments should maintain their involvement in the defense of Human Rights without depending on what the United States can do, according to the head of HRW.
Among the duties that HRW places on Biden is the expansion of health care, the dismantling of systemic racism, the fight against climate change and an end to discrimination against women and the LGTBI community. The president will have Congress on his side, as the Democratic Party will control both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
In addition, the NGO has urged Biden to allow the opening of criminal investigations against Trump, to “make it clear that no one is outside the rule of law”, regardless of the position he occupies.
