A visiting expert has urged New Zealand to stand up against human rights violations wherever they happen around the world, but has warned we won’t be able to do it alone.
Kenneth Roth is the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and spent decades investigating and exposing human rights violations in dozens of different countries.
Roth is outspoken on a range of situations, including alleged war crimes committed by both sides in the war in Gaza, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US President Donald Trump’s lethal attacks on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean, and the Iranian government’s brutal crackdown on protesters.
He has also previously spoken out about China’s treatment of Uyghur minorities, which Human Rights Watch reports have found are subject to harsh repression, mass imprisonment, and other forms of human rights abuse.
Speaking to Q+A, he said New Zealand should be more active in raising the plight of Uyghurs when dealing with China, which is New Zealand’s largest trading partner.
“I would like to see New Zealand be more active there, though I recognise simply to act bilaterally could be dangerous,” said Roth.
“When a government official goes to China and says we quietly discussed human rights issues behind closed doors, that does no good whatsoever. The Chinese government is happy with that, because the Chinese people didn’t hear anything.”
“What is a more positive way – what New Zealand has done periodically – is join in these group statements that now number about 50, challenging Beijing’s persecution of the Uyghurs.”
“China can’t retaliate against 50 governments, and so that kind of combined pressure actually does make a difference.”
The Chinese government has consistently rejected allegations of human rights abuses against Uyghurs. Roth is touring New Zealand after writing the book Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments.
He said he wrote it to make the case for defending human rights to be an active and muscular exercise, involving applying pressure to governments at their weak points, in order to force change for the better.
“I would tell people that I defended human rights, and I would see a glazed look in their eyes – oh isn’t that nice. They really thought we just sat around and lit a candle and hoped for the best,” said Roth.
“What I wanted to show is that we fully get that violating human rights is rational for repressive governments, it’s a way to stay in power. The only way to change their conduct is to increase the cost of their repression.”
He said that work takes two main forms, beginning with careful investigation, documentation, and publicising of abuses as they happen.
“And secondly by enlisting governments like New Zealand’s, that purport to support human rights in their foreign policy, to put diplomatic and economic pressures on governments.”
He said there have been many examples of that strategy being successful, including, as an example, putting pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin to rein in his ally, Bashar al-Assad, during the vicious civil war in Syria.
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
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