United States. Congress. House. Committee On Africa epub Human Rights Situation in Africa: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Africa of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One ... Session, February 22, 1995 (Classic Reprint)

House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on A frica, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-L ehtinen (chair of the subcommittee) presiding. Ms. Ros-L ehtinen. Good morning, the subcommittee will come to order. I would first like to welcome and extend our appreciation to all of you for being here today, especially to the panelists who will give us their insight about the human rights situation in A frica. We have kept a very busy schedule in the last month. A mong other things, we have had two regional briefings and a separate executive session focusing on the United States military operations inS omalia. Today, however, we are changing gears a bit to focus on an issue which strikes at the very core of democratic values and beliefs, and this is human rights. Nearly two-thirds of the African countries are in a transitional stage. They are replacing autocratic governments with democratic institutions. However, civil strife and activities of extremist movements continue to foment terror and despair throughout many regions of the continent. The total disregard for human rights of a few is endangering the progress that has been made thus far by many African nations. These individuals do not realize that protection of and respect for these basic natural rights is a prerequisite to a stable and equitable form of government and without this guarantee democracy cannot flourish. It is within this context, then, that I would like to introduce our first speaker, John Shattuck, Assistant Secretary of State forD emocracy, Human Rights and Labor. The Secretary served as vice president of Harvard University from 1984 to 1993 where he also taught human rights and civil liberties law at Harvard Law School. Previously, he was executive director of the(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)