Kenneth Roth
The Boston Globe
New York, NY, United States
Contact Ken
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Ken:
Harvard needs to stand with its principles, not with Israel — or its donors
Human Rights Watch and I seem to be objectionable to Douglas Elmendorf, dean of Harvard Kennedy School, precisely because we are impartial observers, which gives our criticism of Israel greater weight. → Read More
I once ran Human Rights Watch. Harvard blocked my fellowship over Israel
I was told that my fellowship at the Kennedy School was vetoed over my and Human Rights Watch’s criticism of Israel → Read More
The U.N. Gave a Quiet Diplomat the Wrong Job
Volker Türk lacks the temperament to be the United Nations human rights chief. → Read More
Saving Lives in Time of War
War is ugly, but total war is worse. That's the way, for example, that Russian and Syrian forces fought in Syria, and how Russian forces are now fighting in Ukraine. The civilian toll can be enormous. → Read More
Building a War-Crimes Case Against Vladimir Putin
With Russian war crimes apparently being committed in Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine, determining who bears command responsibility will be an important focus of the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation that has already begun. → Read More
Opinion: Building a war-crimes case against Vladimir Putin
As the Russian President’s terrible war in Ukraine presses on, proving command responsibility will be essential to justice being done → Read More
Putin has a history of atrocities. Just how far will Russian forces go in Ukraine?
We have already seen indiscriminate use of cluster munitions, and the firing of ballistic missiles and rocket artillery, says Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch → Read More
World Report 2022: Rights Trends in Mali
Human rights and security deteriorated in Mali in 2021 as abuses by armed Islamist groups spiked, a political crisis deepened, and impunity for past and ongoing atrocities by all armed groups persisted. Mali’s transition to civilian rule following the 2020 military coup suffered a setback after another coup in May, the third in under 10 years. → Read More
9/11 Unleashed a Global Storm of Human Rights Abuses
The September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States were foremost a tragedy for the nearly 3,000 victims and their families. Compounding this tragedy, the horror of the attacks spawned an abusive reaction that reverberates to this day. → Read More
How to Safely Evacuate Afghans at Risk Before It's Too Late
Several military aircraft from NATO countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, have flown out of Kabul in recent days with only a handful of passengers. → Read More
How to safely evacuate Afghans at risk before it's too late
The U.S., NATO and other allies should urgently reach a common position on the evacuation of at-risk Afghans— here are the most important steps for them to take. → Read More
The Age of Zombie Democracies
Over the past decade, autocrats around the world have perfected the technique of “managed” or “guided” democracy. In Belarus, Egypt, Russia, Uganda, Venezuela, and elsewhere, authoritarian leaders have held periodic elections to enhance their legitimacy but monopolized the media, restricted civil society, and manipulated state institutions and resources to ensure that they remained in power. → Read More
It's Time to Update the U.S. Approach to Israeli Rights Abuses
President Joe Biden has shown a remarkable capacity to change with the times, but when it came to the recent armed conflict between Israeli and Hamas forces, he often seemed to be pressing "rewind" and "play" on an old reel-to-reel tape recorder. The welcome ceasefire provides an opportunity to re-examine this outdated approach. → Read More
Opinion: The last chance to save Alexey Navalny
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, writes that Western leaders must make it clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the fate of opposition leader Alexey Navalny is in the Kremlin's hands. → Read More
Navalny Persecution Just the Tip of the Russian Crackdown
The Kremlin undoubtedly hopes that by packing Alexei Navalny off to prison, it will keep him out of sight, out of mind. Yet Navalny’s many social-media-savvy followers make that unlikely. A growing movement of people discontented with corruption, economic stagnation, and the Kremlin’s autocratic rule means that a political opposition will persist even without Navalny. → Read More
Olympic Snow Shouldn't Cover China's Repression
The snow will undoubtedly be deep for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, but that doesn't mean we should let Beijing use the Olympics to do a snow job on us and whitewash its abysmal human rights record. → Read More
Op-Ed: Think of Biden's immigration plan as a statute of limitations on crossing the border illegally
The government sets limits on prosecuting crimes and civil infractions. Congress should do the same for longtime U.S. residents who are American in all ways except their papers. → Read More
Biden's Next Steps on Human Rights: Multilateral Institutions
The United States government's decision to "reengage" with the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council is a big step toward the multilateral support for human rights that President Joe Biden promised in his major foreign policy speech. Yet key details remain to be worked out for how the Biden administration will engage with the council. → Read More
A Human Rights Review of Biden's Foreign Policy Speech
After four years of watching former US President Donald Trump cozy up to friendly autocrats, it was heartening to hear President Joe Biden vow to stand up for democracy and human rights around the world. → Read More
Biden Can’t Make Washington a Beacon for Human Rights by Returning to Business as Usual
The world stepped up while the United States stepped back from defending human rights. The next US president should join them. → Read More