West Accepts Flawed Elections if the Winner is an Ally

Hazel Inglis/3:52 / 2/1/08 / human rights/

For my first blog, I wrote about the Kenyan elections and how the election went bad and many people are being killed or forced to leave their country. This week I found an article that is pointing out how Western countries, such as the United States and other European countries, are not playing a big enough role in protecting human rights throughout the world. "States claiming the mantle of democracy, including Kenya and Pakistan, should guarantee the human rights that are central to it, including the rights to free expression, assembly and association, as well as free and fair elections," it said. "By allowing autocrats to pose as democrats... the United States, the European Union and other influential democracies risk undermining human rights worldwide."

"Too many Western governments insist on elections and leave it at that," said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch. "It seems Washington and European governments will accept even the most dubious election so long as the 'victor' is a strategic or commercial ally." I agree with this statement; I feel that the United States is more worried about saying that a country is moving the right direction by having an election, then seeing that the country have fair election and helping with the after mat of the election if it goes bad. It is the same way we approached the Iraq war. If we really cared about giving the people more human rights, we would not have bombed and killed many natives, but we would have spent less money and had less violence by building schools, getting running water and electricity to villages, and many more things that would have helped the people of Iraq out more.

I believe Mr. Roth statement sums up the effects of Western countries turning their back on human rights throughout the world, "Nigeria's leader came to power in a violent and fraudulent vote, yet he's been accepted on the international stage. It's no wonder that Kenya's president felt able to rig his re-election."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/west-accepts-flawed-elections-if-the-winner-is-an-ally-says-rights-group-776769.html