Foreign Policy of The United States - Human Rights

Human Rights

The inclusion of Human Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy had a controversial start. For one thing, human rights driven foreign policy did not originate in the Executive branch but was instead enforced upon it by Congress, starting in the 1970s. Following the Vietnam War, the feeling that US Foreign Policy had grown apart from traditional American values was seized upon by Senator Donald M. Fraser (D, MI), leading the Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements, in criticizing Republican Foreign Policy under the Nixon administration. In the early 1970s, Congress concluded the Vietnam War and passed the War Powers Act. As "part of a growing assertiveness by Congress about many aspects of Foreign Policy," Human Rights concerns became a battleground between the Legislative and the Executive branches in the formulation of foreign policy. David Forsythe points to three specific, early examples of Congress interjecting its own thoughts on foreign policy:

1. Subsection (a) of the International Financial Assistance Act of 1977: ensured assistance through international financial institutions would be limited to countries "other than those whose governments engage in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights."
2. Section 116 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended in 1984: reads in part, "o assistance may be provided under this part to the government of any country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights."
3. Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended in 1978: "No security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights."

These measures were repeatedly used by Congress, with varying success, to affect US Foreign Policy towards the inclusion of Human Rights concerns. Specific examples include El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and South Africa. The Executive (from Nixon to Reagan) argued that the Cold War required placing regional security in favor of US interests over any behavioral concerns of national allies. Congress argued the opposite, in favor of distancing the United States from oppressive regimes.

Despite the many advances in US Foreign Policy towards the inclusion of human rights, the substance remains strictly limited to its bilateral relations and only when politically relevant and/or feasible. The end of the Cold War resulted in a dramatic shift towards protecting human rights that lead to the development peacekeeping and peacemaking operations. And while the recent intervention in Libya may show how far the United States has come, the situation in Syria may shows how much ground is left.