Righting Wrongs

‘If human rights are considered the most essential quality of human existence, then this book represents a lifetime devoted to the fight for those rights’ Ai WeiweiIn three decades under the leadership of Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch conducted investigations in 100 countries to uncover abuses – and pressured offending governments to stop them. Roth has grappled with the worst of humanity, taken on the most ruthless oppressors of our time, and persuaded leaders from around the globe to stand up to their repressive counterparts.The son of a Jew who fled Nazi Germany just before the war began, Roth grew up knowing full well how inhumane governments could be. He has traveled the world to meet cruelty and injustice on its home turf: he arrived in Rwanda shortly after the genocide; scrutinized the impact of Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait; investigated and condemned Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians. He directed efforts to curtail the Chinese government’s persecution of Uyghur Muslims, to bring Myanmar’s officials to justice after the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, to halt Russian war crimes in Ukraine, even to rein in the U.S. government. Roth’s many innovations and strategies included the deployment of a concept as old as mankind – the powerful tool of ‘shaming’ – and here he illustrates its surprising effectiveness against evildoers.This is a story of wins, losses, and ongoing battles in the ceaseless fight for a more decent world.

Kenneth Roth is the former executive director of Human Rights Watch. He has extensively investigated human rights abuses around the world, focusing especially on the world’s most dire situations, the pursuit of international justice, the major powers’ foreign policies, the work of the United Nations, and the global contest between democracy and autocracy. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other major publications. He spends his time between New York and Geneva.