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In
contrast to what Human Rights Executive Director Kenneth Roth
described as former U.S. President Donald Trump's "embrace of
friendly autocrats", Biden took office in January 2021 with a
pledge to put human rights at the center of his foreign policy.
"But he continued to sell arms to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates, and Israel despite their persistent
repression," Roth wrote in Human Rights Watch's annual World
Report, released on Thursday.
"Other Western leaders displayed similar weakness in their
defense of democracy," Roth wrote, naming French President
Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Roth also said that during key summits Biden "seemed to lose his
voice when it came to public denunciation of serious human
rights violations."
"The U.S. State Department has issued occasional protests about
repression in certain countries, and in extreme cases the Biden
administration introduced targeted sanctions on some officials
responsible, but the influential voice of the president was
often missing," he wrote.
U.S. officials have defended the Biden administration's record,
saying diplomats have frequently raised human rights concerns
with foreign leaders, including in difficult talks with
adversaries including China and Russia.
"If democracies are to prevail in the global contest with
autocracy, their leaders must do more than spotlight the
autocrats' inevitable shortcomings. They need to make a
stronger, positive case for democratic rule," Roth said.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mary Milliken and
Karishma Singh)
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