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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India & Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership, vow to soon conclude free trade deal
Jerusalem (PTI): India and Israel on Thursday elevated their "time-tested" relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to soon firm up a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
Following talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two sides inked a plethora of agreements to expand cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payment.
India and Israel also vowed to expand their already close defence partnership by working towards joint development and joint production of military hardware under the framework of the transfer of technologies.
In his media statement, Modi said India's security interest is linked to peace and stability in the Middle East, adding that New Delhi fully supports the Gaza Peace Initiative.
"India's stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts," he said.
"In the future as well, we will continue dialogue and cooperation with all countries," he said.
PM Modi landed in Israel on Wednesday on a two-day visit. It is his second visit to Israel in nine years.
In his remarks, the prime minister said India and Israel have a united view that there is no place for terrorism in the world and both sides stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering terrorism and its supporters.
"Our relationship is founded on the strong bedrock of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensitivities. Our bond has stood the test of every trial of time," he said.
"Today, we have taken the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to the status of a 'Special Strategic Partnership'," he said.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of an India-Israel critical and emerging technologies partnership to impart a new momentum for cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, quantum, and critical minerals. "I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel," he said.
The prime minister, referring to the threat of terrorism, said India and Israel will continue to confront the menace unitedly.
"India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted," he said.
"We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing terrorism and its supporters, and we will continue to do so," he added.
India and Israel also discussed the implementation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and cooperation under the framework of I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA).
