Head of Human Rights Watch to resign after nearly 3 decades
New York, Apr 26: The longtime leader of Human Rights Watch announced Tuesday he will step down this summer as executive director after nearly three decades at the helm of one of the world's leading advocacy organisations.
Kenneth Roth ran the New York-based group as it shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for its efforts to ban anti-personnel land mines. The group also pushed to establish the International Criminal Court for prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda called Roth an inspiration.
Ken's fearless passion for justice, his courage and compassion towards the victims of human rights violations and atrocity crimes was not just professional responsibility but a personal conviction to him, she said.
Roth became executive director in 1993, when the group had a staff of about 60 and a USD 7 million annual budget. It now has over 550 employees in more than 100 countries and a nearly USD 100 million budget to campaign against human rights abuses.
Ken Roth turned Human Rights Watch into a juggernaut for justice, said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He has inspired a generation of human rights defenders to fight for a better world.
The group has been at the forefront of advocacy on some of the world's most hot-button rights issues.
According to Human Rights Watch, that earned Roth many enemies over the years.
Despite being Jewish (and having a father who fled Nazi Germany as a 12-year-old boy), he has been attacked as a supposed anti-Semite because of the organization's criticism of Israeli government abuses, the group said in a statement Tuesday.
The Chinese government imposed sanctions' on him and expelled him from Hong Kong when he traveled there to release Human Rights Watch's World Report in January 2020, which spotlighted Beijing's threat to the global human rights system, it said.
During his early years there, Roth conducted fact-finding investigations including in Haiti and Cuba, on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and in Kuwait after the 1990 Iraqi invasion. In recent years, he's been especially concerned with addressing atrocities during the Syrian war as well as Chinese repression of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, Human Rights Watch documented and exposed the use of black sites where U.S. officials interrogated and tortured terrorism suspects. The group pressed the U.S. government to investigate and prosecute those responsible.
The organization said its reporting and advocacy contributed to convictions of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and Bosnian Serb wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
Roth began his human rights career as a volunteer, working on nights and weekends while serving as an attorney and a federal prosecutor. He joined Human Rights Watch in 1987 as deputy director and soon after he took the top job in 1993 he joined its regional rights watch groups together under a single identity as Human Rights Watch.
After Roth steps down at the end of August, Human Rights Watch said deputy executive director Tirana Hassan will serve as interim executive director while it holds a search for Roth's successor.
I had the great privilege to spend nearly 30 years building an organisation that has become a leading force in defending the rights of people around the world, said Roth. I am leaving Human Rights Watch but I am not leaving the human rights cause.
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13 lakh litres of 'Rail Neer' supplied to train passengers daily: Government
New Delhi (PTI): Approximately 13 lakh litres of packaged drinking water -- 'Rail Neer' -- are being supplied to train passengers across the railway network daily, the government informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Wednesday.
Apprising the Lower House about the Indian Railways' endeavour to provide safe and potable drinking water facilities at all stations, the government also provided zone-wise details of the water vending machines (WVMs) installed there.
"To ensure the quality of drinking water being made available at the railway stations, instructions exist for periodical checking and required corrective action to be taken.
"Regular inspection and maintenance of drinking water facilities is carried out and complaints are attended to promptly," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said while responding to a question raised by BJP MP Anup Sanjay Dhotre seeking to know the supply of drinking water at railway stations across the country
"Complaints regarding deficiency in services, including water supply, are received through various channels such as public complaints, web portals, social media, etc. These complaints are received at various levels, including the Railway Board, zonal railways, division office, etc.," Vaishnaw said.
"The complaints so received are forwarded to the concerned wings of Railways and necessary action is taken to check and address them. As receipt of such complaints and action taken thereon is a continuous and dynamic process, a centralised compendium of these is not maintained," he added.
Providing zone-wise details of water vending machines, the minister said 954 such machines have been installed across railway stations.
"The Indian Railways also provides safe and affordable packaged drinking water bottles -- Rail Neer -- approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in trains and at stations," Vaishnaw said.
"Approximately, 13 lakh litres of Rail Neer are being supplied per day to the travelling passengers in trains and at stations across the Indian Railways network," he added.
