Global Security & Human Rights

The United States has a proud tradition of pushing other countries to observe basic human rights protections. Yet as Human Rights First has carefully documented through the past several years, the United States' counterterrorism policies are being used by other countries to justify increasing restrictions on fundamental rights. Opportunistic governments have relied cynically on the U.S. "war on terrorism" as a basis for internal repression of domestic opponents. And U.S. actions have in some cases encouraged other countries to disregard their own domestic and international law. The effect of these changes is felt particularly acutely by human rights defenders, who face new or intensified restrictions on their basic rights.

The U.S. Law and Security Program, working with Human Rights First's Human Rights Defenders Program, engages worldwide to study these changes, and to support advocates who have been targeted for mistreatment because they promote human rights at home. For background on developments related to the effect of U.S. national security policies on human rights around the world, see Chapter 5 (PDF 344 KB) of our report, Assessing the New Normal, or visit the pages of our Human Rights Defenders Program website.