WORLDWIDE DEVELOPMENTS RELATED TO THE US STAND ON HUMAN RIGHTS FEBRUARY 1978[SANITIZED] - 1978/02/01

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06628553
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 64
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: February 1, 1978

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WORLDWIDE DEVELOPMENTS RELNFED TO THE
US STAND ON HUMAN RIGHTS
FEBRUARY .1978
EO 13526 3.5(c)
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LATIN AMERICA
Brazilian President Geisel's hints of forthcoming political
changes created an anticipatory mood. Groups backing liberalization
of the military regime took heart from the apparent interest of General
Figueiredo, Geisel's choice as his successor, in relaxing political
restrictions and correcting, abuses. Meanwhile, political prisoners in
Sao Paulo publicized a document cataloguing the abuses they claim to
have suffered during their years of confinement. The Prisoners'
document was received by the Brazilian Bar Association,,whiCh forwarded
a copy to the Ministry of Justice as a "contribution"- toward revision
of the National Security Law.
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In Paraguay, 24 political prisoners were released in February.
Several of the prisoners had been detained for up to 13 years. Nineteen
of them, however, were labor leaders arrested in December on the-orders
of the chief of the secret police.' Meanwhile, a pre-election amnestY in
Bolivia resul ted in the. release- Of the last. of Bolivia's 12 acRnOwledged
remaining political prisoners.
Argentina continued to feel pressure .from Europe on human right's
matters. According to West. European press reports, the European Community -
was planning to present a demarche to Buenos Aires' that recognized
recent improvements in Argentina- but protested the. lack Of protection of
foreign nationals and expresSed concern over the general human right's
situation.
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L. 1 A - 1NthUS1 UNLY
13 January 19*
/7
MEMORANDUM FOR: D/ORPA
C/IID
FROM ORPA Human Rights Coordinator
SUBJECT
Unclassified Human Rights Nbnthly
Attached is the December edition of Worldwide Develonments
Related to the US Stand on Human Rights, the unclassified human
rights monthly requested by the NSC Staff.
Attachment: a/s
Office of Regional and Political
Analysis
cc:
Executive Secretary, 0/DCI (B.C. Evans)
CIA - USE ONLY
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WORLDWIDE DEVELOPMENTS RELATED TO THE
US STAND ON HUMAN RIGHTS
DECEMBER 1977
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LATIN AMERICA
Argentina announced the release of 389 persons from Executive
Detention. The government put another 30 detainees on parole, placed
MO under house arrest, granted 10 the so-called "right of option" to
leave the country, and expelled one. The tegime also announced that a
list of the 3,607 persons it claims are still being held under Executive
Detention will be made public "at an opportune time." Some of the
389 persons released from Executive Detention may not actually be freed.
Some prisoners are being held in Argentina under both Executive Detention
and judicially ordered preventive detention related to pending criminal
charges.
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D/ORPA-78-659/A
19 July 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
THROUGH Deputy Director for National Foreign Assessment
FROM William A. Christison
Director, Regional & Political Analysis
SUBJECT Human Rights
1. On 5 June, you asked for a country by country scorecard of
worldwide performance on human rights since January 1977. Attached
is a final draft of our response (and a copy of your request).
2. You should note particularly:
a. The Summary Tables on page 4 of the report; and
b. The Table at the end (pages Al-A8), which presents our
judgments on the human rights performance of every in-
dependent country in the world with a population of
over 175,000. The only populated areas not covered are
territories that are not independent (e.g., Greenland,
Hong Kong), or countries with very small populations
(e.g., San Marino, Qatar). Overall, the Table--and the
paper as a whole--cover all but 0.2 percent of the
world's population.
3. Since you personally requested this report, we would like to
have your comments before publishing. After we have your approval,
we are also prepared to work up a Presidential briefing based on the
report. Much of the data can be presented quite effectively on charts
or maps.
4. In reviewing the paper, please be aware that some of our, judg-
ments on the human rights performance of nations are harsher than those
of the Department of State. As you probably .know, the State Department
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SUBJECT: Human Rights
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annually submits-Country:Reportson-HumurRights Practicesto-the
House-Internationa+-Relations Committee-and-the-Senate-Foreign- Re-
lations Committee,- The most recent-comptIation by State, which-
runs-over-400Y,pages;. wasrpublishedJast-February---The. State. study
does not.compare-countries;-as-our-does,and-in.our vie-is too
optimistic-about-the-progress made On human-rights-in anumber,of
countries:--States--study'also-'does-not-everrcover-the-USSR, Eastern
Europe,.and.certain other Amportant.countrieS-including Argentina,
. Brazil and-Chile...�Finally,-State'sstudyis.unclassified.._Given
the_differences-between-it and. our paper, there some-flap poten-
tial in ours,if it leaks--or-iffit-is issued..in an-unclassified'
version.
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5. All
Th., analysts
Divisions of ORPA made major contributions to this
responsible for organizina and coordinating it are
paper.
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of ORPA's
Attachments:
Ias stated
�e.
William A. Christison
r
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, fr?aviik-9-4
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Th
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SUBJECT: Human Rights
CONCUR:
Distribution:
Orig - Addressee Watt
1 - DDCI w/att
1 - Exec Registry w/att
1. - D/NFAC w/att
1 - DD/NFAC w/att
1 - AD-M/NFAC w/att
1 - AD-SS/NFAC w/att
1 - Presidential Briefing
Coordinator w/att
2 - D/ORPA w/att
1 - ORPA/II w/att
2 - ORPA/PS w/att
1 - NFAC Registry w/att
1 - ea. ORPA Division w/att
NFAC/D/ORPA/WAChristison:s1/19Ju178/x6051
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DENTIAL
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31 JUL 1`379
Date
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5 JUN 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for National Foreign Assessment
FROM: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT: Human Rights
1. Now that Cord Meyer is gone are we still turning in weekly
reports on human rights?
2. Would it be possible at this juncture to develop a scoreboard
on the progress in human rights since the Carter Administration took
office, country by country, where there have been significant improve-
ments or regressions? In short, could we pull something together that
isn't so extensive as to be unusable but still capture the sense of
the trends.
STANSFIELD TURNER
451
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MEMORANDUM.Fa Director, NFAc
Attached is a country by country scorecard of
worldwide performance on human rights which the DCI
requested on 5 June. (Attached also is a copy of the
DCI's original request. We have already answered the
first question in his request in the affirmative.)
g,ll
William A. Christison
Director
Regional & Political Analysis
Me 19 July 1978
FORM 'i USE PREVIOUS
5-75 J.W. EDITIONS
...
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THE DIRF 'OR OF
CENTRAL IN iELLIGENCE
Deputy Director for National Foreign Assessment
Note for the Director
24 .J
Attached is a country by country scorecard
of worldwide performance on human rights which
you requested on 5 June.
Robert R. Bowie
Attachment:
"Human Rights Performance"
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18 July 1978
MEMORANDUM
HUMAN RIGHTS PERFORMANCE
FOREWORD
This assessment of the Human Rights performance of foreign coun-
tries over the past year and a half, requested by the DCI, is in two
parts. The first is an overview of worldwide trends, which emphasizes
the degree to which there has been change in the practices of foreign
countries since 1976. This is followed by regional sections, which
attempt to place foreign practices and indications of Change into the
context both of the countries' history and political culture and of
their relations with the US.
For the purposes of this paper we have identified "human rights" as
including governmental unwillingness to condone: (1) torture; (2)
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (3) arbitrary
arrest or imprisonment; (4) denial of fair public trial; (5) invasion of
the home. They also connote governmental respect for freedom of: (6)
thought, speech, press, religion and assembly; (7) movement within the
country, foreign travel and emigration; and (8) participation in the
Political process. Finally (9) they imply a government's willingness to
tolerate international and nongovernmental investigation of alleged
violations of human rights. We have not included evaluations of economic
performances within the scope of this paper, although we recognize that
there is an economic dimension to the term human rights as it is commonly
used. Moreover, only independent foreign countries with more than
175,000 inhabitants have been evaluated.
Regarding ratings, we judge generally good those countries with
endemic problems in no more than one or two areas of human rights;
as spotty those with problems in several areas; and as poor those with
problems in all or nearly all areas.
The views expressed in this paper represent the best judgments of
ORPA analysts and have not .been coordinated with other components of the
Agency. We are aware that, for many countries, assessing the state of
human rights practices, and even the direction they are taking, is both
complex and controversial. It is extremely difficult to place 100 or so
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countries into a few categories to the satisfaction of ORPA analysts,
let alone observers elsewhere. Some Changes for the better that we
describe may not be thought significant by others. In any case, the
changes may not prove lasting.; they may not withstand the litmus test
that the authoritarian governments which rule most countries of the
world tend to apply to improvements in human rights practices: the
extent to which these may complicate domestic security problem's and even
general political problems for the governments in power.
saw.aisTTTAL
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�eettri,
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Page
Overview 1
Human Rights Worldwide (chart) 4
Latin America
27
Annex
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Overview
Over the last year and a half, we believe the human rights perform-
ances of governments in 40 foreign countries have improved. Because of
improvement, we would now group India, Spain and, with some qualifica-
tion, even Thailand with the industrial democracies and developing
countries whose overall human rights performance is judged generally
good. There are now 44 such foreign countries, with a total population
of 1.4 billion, or nearly a third of the world's total population.
Aside from India, Spain, and Thailand, the countries that have witnessed
some improvement in human rights performance since January 1977 still
have overall records we would Characterize as either spotty (e.g.,
Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Iran, Indonesia, South Korea, Yugoslavia,
Iran, Indonesia)., or poor (notably the Peoples Republic of China(PRC)).
Because of the large population of many of these 40 countries, about
2.4 billion people are judged to enjoy a higher standard of human rights
in mid-1978 than at the end of 1976. Even with China excluded, the
number would represent over one third of the world's population.
The governments of these countries generally were less likely than
before to condone: torture; cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment; arbitrary arrest or imprisonment; denial of fair public
trial; and invasion of the home. By and large the central authorities seemed
to encourage greater respect for freedom of: thought, speech, press,
religion and assembly; movement within the Country; foreign travel and
emigration; and participation in the political process. Not all these
governments showed improvement in all these areas, but the available
information suggests that all made some progress in one or more of
them.
Moreover, evidence of a government's willingness to tolerate
international and nongovernmental investigation of alleged violations of
human rights was itself judged as a positive indication of human rights
performance. Some governments that have bristled at direct US initia-
tives as "interference" in their internal affairs have, as a compensating
action, permitted Amnesty International or some regional human rights
commission to conduct its own investigation. To that extent US initiatives
have been indirectly responsible for part of the rise in prestige and
influence shown by such human rights organizations.
On the negative side, it is fairly clear that for a substantial
number of other persons (nearly one in ten) the standards of human
rights have declined (notably in the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Cambodia,
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Angola and post-coup Afghanistan). While quiet diplomacy may assist in
individual cases in these countries, by and large the regimes have
proved insensitive to official public criticism, and at times have shown
a tendency to react to such criticism by becoming even more repressive.
This has been particularly apparent in the USSR and Czechoslovakia,
where, nonetheless, dissent seems to have become embedded in political
life.
The PRC represents a special case an human rights. Overall, it
still must be rated poor. Yet, there has been some easing of controls,
and the recent rhetoric, promising the restoration of more regular
judicial procedure, a prohibition against the use of force in obtaining
confessions, and punishment for violations of ?NM= rights" (Peking's
term), is of considerable interest. At minimum the rhetoric shows a new
and noteworthy recognition by Chinese leaders that such concepts matter
to countries the PRC now finds in its interest to cultivate.
Between the countries rated generally good on human rights and ,
those rated poor, are countries with'spIty performances, currently
embracing slightly more than a fourth o the world's population. There
has been considerable progress and some retrogression within these
categories in the period under discussion, but in only four cases did
countries already in the Spotty categories at the end of 1976 move out
of those categories; India, Spain and Thailand, as indicated earlier,
moved up to generally good, and Afghanistan moved down to poor.
Countries in the spotty category generally have shown themselves
willing to engage in dialogue with other countries, including the United
States, about human rights. Where they resist changes they usually at
least offer explanations for their resistance. They plead parlous
security conditions, and emphasize, among other things, the increasing
tendency of indigenous terrorist groups to use human rights rhetoric to
serve terrorist goals. Economic and social circumstances are used in a
variety of ways to excuse inattention to political and civil rights.
For example, countries with low standards of living maintain that
political freedoms are simply not of urgent priority. Recipients of
economic aid express pointed resentment against attempts to link human
rights to the loan policies of international financial institutions.
Newly acquired economic prosperity, notably in some Moslem oil-producing
countries, has reinforced an already strong cultural bias against Western
human rights.concepts. Other countries frankly fear the social turmoil
they perceive to be an inherent part of Western liberal democracies.
As the regional sections that follow indicate, the causes both of
the prevailing climate of human rights practices in individual countries
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and of the changes that have occurred recently are often exceedingly
complex, especially in regard to the relative importance of internal and
external factors. By and large, increased US attention to human rights
practices has contributed to a global climate of greater sensitivity to
the issue and to the heightened concern of a large number of countries
about the importance to their wellbeing (e.g., in terms of foreign aid
and loans) of international perceptions of their practices. In a number
of cases, US bilateral representations have been an important factor in
improvements noted (e.g., South Korea, Chile). In most cases, however,
especially where substantial and far-reaching improvements have taken
place (e.g., India, Spain), they very largely reflect dramatic internal
political changes--and only secondarily--if at all--foreign representations.
Similarly, the several instances of retrogression are explained very
largely by internal dynamics, though at times (e.g., the USSR) fear or
traditional resentment of international pressures also played a part.
Despite the overall improvement, disregard of human rights remains
a depressing fixture of the world scene. For the forseeable future
there will be regimes--including some in which we have noted improvements--
inclined to use force and fraud to prevent their countrymen from ex-
pressing dissident views, however nonviolently; willing to deny them
privacy and due process; and able to inflict on them ever more refined
forms of distress and humiliation.
Note: Throughout this study, population data for all
countries are estimates as of I January 1978,
a point between the beginning and end ddtes
(January 1977 and July 1978) of our assessments
of human rights performance. Thus our data do
not show the increase of the world's population
between January 1977 and July 1978; such figures
are simply not available for many countries.
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Latin America
Country
Argentina
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Category
Spotty
Trend Since January 1977
No Change
There have been encouraging signs of progress on human rights in
Latin America since the present US administration assumed office,
although there are stubborn cases, involving authoritarian regimes
reacting to real or perceived threats to internal security, that show no
improvement. US pressures for reform have strained relations with some
of the recalcitrant countries, but the few countries with relatively
good records on human rights have been generally supportive of US
policies in this area. Among the improvements noted is a marked decrease
in the worst abuses, such as officially condoned killings, torture, and
prolonged and illegal detention. There are indications that liberaliza-
tion is under way or is planned in some countries with longstanding
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records
records for serious human rights problems. International and regional
human rights organizations are also taking a more active part in investigating
and monitoring individual cases, and seem to be eliciting favorable
responses and cooperation from many governments. Overall improvement,
albeit with some relapses, is likely in the months ahead, particularly
as some military governments begin bringing civilians into the political
process.
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In Argentina the human rights issue continues to cause strains with
the US. Senior Argentine officials view human rights abuses as an
unfortunate but inevitable consequence of intense efforts to eradicate
leftist terrorism, and under these circumstances resent efforts by
foreign critics to portray the Argentine Government as an oppressive
dictatorship. Now that the terrorist threat seems to be abating, the
government is attempting to wind down its massive security operations
and to exercise tighter controls over police and military units. It has
ordered release of many prisoners to their relatives during daylight
hours. The Interior Minister recently warned police Chiefs to stop
bullying the public and to restore normal procedures and the government
has strengthened requirements for proper police identification. In an
effort to appease its critics, the government has published several
lists of those arrested and under detention and is making a more concerted
effort to locate missing persons.. Nevertheless, thousands of prisoners
are still being held under state of siege provisions which deny them
benefits of trial and due process. The fact that there are still
occasional reports of disappearances, torture, and death indicates that
the government is either unable or unwilling to bring all elements of
the security forces under full control.
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Population
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Human Rights Performance
Since January 1977
No
Improved Change Declined
Argentina
26,224,000
CO
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