Letter to Congressional Leaders on the Trump Administration’s Handling of Human Rights and International Engagement in its First 100 Days

SUMMARY

With assistance from the International Human Rights Committee (Anil Kalhan, Chair), the City Bar President sent a letter to Congressional leaders regarding the Trump Administration’s handling of human rights issues and international engagement during its first one hundred days in office.  The letter expresses concern that the approach taken by the new administration “raises questions about the future protection of rights at home and abroad which, in turn, may contribute to international instability and threaten domestic security.”  The administration’s lack of engagement with respect to human rights principles, international institutions and diplomacy, coupled with proposed drastic cuts in financial assistance to international organizations and programs and an accumulating list of sympathetic comments about authoritarian leaders with extensive and well-documented records of human rights violations, is sending negative signals about the level of priority the administration is according to the protection of human rights.  The City Bar urges Congressional leaders to “take concrete actions to promote human rights, to uphold the highest standards of human dignity in the laws and policies of the United States, and to demand the same of executive branch officials.”