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The Future of Human Rights

"The images appear on television: the mother's eyes wide with loss, the children's bellies distended, the corpses piled along the roadside, the stumps where once were a teenager's arms. In some places these scenes repeat themselves year in and year out. The world takes no notice as rebel groups or government militias kill, rape, and starve tens of thousands of people. In other places, by luck, a few well-placed words or photographs of skeletal figures standing behind barbed wire garner attention. The world sits up and proclaims 'Never again'. Television cameras record; religious groups hold candlelight vigils; political leaders call for action.

What should the United States do in the face of extreme human misery and massive human rights violations? Do we have a responsibility to protect those facing genocide or humanitarian disaster?"

These questions, and the issue of how to be effective in humanitarian intervention, and responsible stewards of U.S. military force, guide the Truman Project's chapter on Humanitarian Intervention in the bold new book The Future of Human Rights. The volume offers practical, pragmatic human rights advice for the next Administration by top experts in the field, including John Shattuck, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House; and Eric Schwartz, Executive Director of the Connect US Fund, and is edited by William F. Schulz, who served as Executive Director of Amnesty International from 1994-2006.

This writing is a product of the Use of Force project, supported by the Bodek Foundation. Click here to purchase The Future of Human Rights.

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Critical Acclaim for the Future of Human Rights

"The Future of Human Rights provides a banquet of thought-provoking ideas about how to restore America's international standing as a defender of human dignity and political rights. A brilliant and timely book."
-Madeleine K. Albright, former Secretary of State

"The nuanced, sophisticated, and incisive essays that make up this important volume demonstrate how central human rights are to a successful foreign policy and chart a course forward after the damage inflicted during the Bush years. The next administration, and all who seek to influence it, will need to consult it."
-Leonard S. Rubenstein, President, Physicians for Human Rights

"The new administration that takes office in 2009 will face an enormous challenge: restoring faith in America and its place in the global community. That new leadership will find in The Future of Human Rights all it needs to undertake the job of reinstating the first principles of good human rights practice and unabashedly mainstreaming human rights into the heart of American foreign and domestic policy. We can afford to do no less."
-Raymond C. Offenheiser, President, Oxfam America