Kenneth Roth (Human Rights Watch) (6806930135).jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kenneth Roth (born September 23, 1955) is an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
attorney, human rights activist, and writer. He was the executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) from 1993 to 2022.


Early life

Kenneth Roth was born on September 23, 1955, in Elmhurst, Illinois. His parents were Muriel T. Roth and Walter S. Roth, and Walter was a Jewish refugee from Germany. Walter’s family had a butchery in Germany near Frankfurt in the times when Adolf Hitler came to power. Kenneth Roth grew up in Deerfield, Illinois. He graduated from
Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
in 1977 with a BA in history and received his JD from Yale Law School in 1980. On June 13, 2011, Roth was married in an
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church to Dr. Annie Sparrow.


Career

Roth worked in private practice as a litigator and served as a
Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...
for the United States Department of Justice for the Southern District of New York and the Iran-Contra investigation in Washington DC. Roth's career in human rights began inauspiciously. The one human rights course offered at Yale Law School was repeatedly canceled, and upon graduation he found that jobs in the field were few. As a result, as he worked as a lawyer, and volunteered nights and weekends doing human rights work, focusing on the Soviet imposition of martial law in Poland in 1981. Roth joined Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 1987 as deputy director. His initial work centered on Haiti and gradually extended to Cuba and the Middle East, among other places. Since 1993 (when Aryeh Neier left to become head of George Soros's Open Society Institute), Roth became the executive director of HRW. While he was in the office, the HRW staff increased from 60 to 552; HRW shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for banning of anti-personnel mines, helped to establish International Criminal Court and ban children in the military. Roth resigned from HRW on 31 August 2022. After leaving HRW, Roth said he intended to write a book. Roth received honorary degrees from Brown University,
Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...
, the University of Ottawa, and the
American University of Paris The American University of Paris (AUP) is a private, independent, and accredited liberal arts university in Paris, France. Founded in 1962, the university is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe, and the first to ...
. He was a recipient of the Athens Democracy Award, the William Rogers Award from Brown University and the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University. He serves on the Watson Institute Board of Overseers at Brown University, the Board of Governors of
Bard College Berlin Bard College Berlin (formerly known as ECLA or European College of Liberal Arts) is a private, non-profit institution of higher education in Berlin, Germany. It was founded as a non-profit association in 1999. Courses are taught in the English lan ...
, and the Humanitarian and Development Advisory Panel of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.


Criticism and controversies

Under Roth's leadership, Human Rights Watch has been criticized for perceived biases and misconstructions, as well as allegedly funding corruption.


Israel and the Jewish people

Roth is criticized by the Jerusalem-based
NGO Monitor NGO Monitor (Non-governmental Organization Monitor) is a right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically ...
for alleged bias against Israel. Professor
Gerald M. Steinberg Gerald M. Steinberg. a professor of politics at Bar Ilan University, is an Israeli academic, political scientist, and political activist. He is founder and president of NGO Monitor, a policy analysis think tank focusing on non-governmental or ...
(founder of the Institute for NGO Research, which runs the NGO Monitor project) is a longtime critic of what he calls Roth's obsessive targeting of Israel as head of HRW. In a 2004 ''Jerusalem Post'' article Steinberg rejected Roth's op-ed accusing NGO Monitor of "fictitious allegations of bias" and a "fantasy-based discourse" that "does a deep disservice to Israel". NGO Monitor also criticized Roth for recruiting a staff that hold
anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...
views and for his attitude toward antisemitism, as he declined to participate in the Global Forum on Antisemitism. This history was analyzed in detail by Steinberg in "Human Rights Watch's anti-Israel Agenda", published in the journal ''Israel Affairs'' (2021). In August 2006, during the war between Hezbollah and Israel, Roth wrote a letter to the editor of '' The New York Sun'' in which he criticized the alleged excessive Israeli response to Hezbollah's indiscriminate rocket attacks on northern Israeli towns: " An eye for an eye—or, more accurately in this case, twenty eyes for an eye—may have been the morality of some more primitive moment." Abraham Foxman, the head of the
Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
(ADL), accused him of using a "classic anti-Semitic stereotype against Jews". A following editorial in ''The New York Sun'' decried the statement: "To suggest that Judaism is a 'primitive' religion incompatible with contemporary morality is to engage in supersessionism, the de-legitimization of Judaism, the basis of much antisemitism". Georgetown law professor and columnist Rosa Brooks describes this criticism of Roth as an example of reflexive labeling of criticism of Israel as antisemitism. Roth criticized Israel during the 2008-2009 Gaza War alongside other NGOs, including
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
, Christian Aid,
HaMoked HaMoked (Hebrew:המוקד, Center for the Defence of the Individual) is an Israel based human rights organization founded by Dr. Lotte Salzberger with the stated aim of assisting " Palestinians subjected to the Israeli occupation which causes s ...
, Yesh Din, and others. Anne Herzberg, legal advisor to NGO Monitor, said that Roth was a notable public face for these organizations in arguing that Israel perpetrated war crimes. Herzberg said that Roth distorted a quote made by Israel's foreign Minister Tsipi Livni in his arguments. Herzberg said that Roth uses this quote to argue that indiscriminate killings of Palestinian civilians was ordered by the highest ranks of the IDF. Instead, says Herzberg, the full context of this quote showed that Livni was appealing to a common identity between Arabs and Israeli Jews and to an end of racial acrimony. In reaction to Richard Goldstone's recantation of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict report, HRW Founder Robert Bernstein said to '' The Jerusalem Post'' in April 2011 of Roth that it "is time for him to follow Judge Goldstone's example and issue his own
mea culpa ' is a Latin phrase that means "my fault" or "my mistake" and is an acknowledgement of having done wrong. The expression is used also as an admission of having made a mistake that should have been avoided, and may be accompanied by beating the br ...
." In 2014, Roth tweeted, "Germans rally against anti-Semitism that flared in Europe in response to Israel's conduct in Gaza war. Merkel joins." Jeffrey Goldberg of ''The Atlantic'' criticized Roth, saying Roth "blame the Jewish state for the violent acts of anti-Semites" and that "it is a universal and immutable rule that the targets of prejudice are not the cause of prejudice." Raphael Magarik disagreed with Goldberg in an opinion for ''The Forward''. Roth also tweeted a controversial advertisement equating the war with "Nazi genocide" followed by the Holocaust tagline "
Never again "Never again" is a phrase or slogan which is associated with the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides. The phrase may originate from a 1927 poem by Yitzhak Lamdan which stated "Never again shall Masada fall!" In the context of genocide ...
". The professor Deborah Lipstadt called this language "soft-core denigration of the Holocaust". An analysis of his tweets by NGO Monitor alleges that Roth shows "significant levels of sarcasm, vitriol, and deep-seated hostility" toward Israel. According to the Jewish newspaper '' Algemeiner Journal'', "Roth has long been noted for his hatred of Israel and his use of antisemitic rhetoric to attack it." In a 2017 opinion for '' The Forward'', Daniel Kohn criticized Roth for establishing a Middle East/North Africa (MENA) team composed of anti-Israel activists. The American Enterprise Institute also criticized his reactions to Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians. On April 26, 2015, Roth drew criticism for his tweets critical of Israel, which sent humanitarian aid to Nepal during the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. Roth is critical of the blockade of the Gaza strip, which he saw as a humanitarian crisis of "Israel's own making". In 2021, Roth tweeted: "Antisemitism is always wrong, and it long preceded the creation of Israel, but the surge in UK antisemitic incidents during the recent Gaza conflict gives the lie to those who pretend that the Israeli government's conduct doesn't affect antisemitism." David Harris, director of the
American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...
, responded to Roth's tweet: "No, antisemitism is always wrong, period. Just as racism is always wrong, period. Coming from an alleged human rights defender, totally & utterly despicable". The Anti-Defamation League said: "blaming Israel for the recent rise in violent antisemitic incidents, instead of blaming the antisemitic actors themselves, is plainly false and offensive" The Community Security Trust said: "Kenneth Roth's tweet is a typical example of how Israel, Jews and antisemitism appear to be treated differently to other types of racism". Following the backlash, Roth deleted his post, tweeting, "I deleted an earlier tweet because people misinterpreted its wording". A 2022 piece by
Michael Massing Michael Massing is an American writer based in New York City. He is a former executive editor of the ''Columbia Journalism Review''. He received a bachelor's degree from Harvard College and a master's degree from the London School of Economics. He ...
in '' the Nation'' reported that Roth's fellowship at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School was denied due to his stance at Human Rights Watch on Israel. Roth told the ''Guardian'' that Harvard Kennedy School dean
Douglas Elmendorf Douglas William Elmendorf (born April 16, 1962) is an American economist who is the dean and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He previously served as the Director of the Congressional Budget Off ...
gave in to donors who are strong supporters of Israel.


Rwanda genocide

In 2010, Fred Oluoch-Ojiwah of Rwanda's '' New Times'' questioned Roth's impartiality and equated Roth's criticism of Rwanda's human rights record to a "love affair" with the "genocidaires" that carried out the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. In a later article, Oluoch-Ojiwah wrote: "As a western human rights personality oth.. will always fail to understand the intricacies and complexities surrounding the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. Wrapping it up simplistically the way he has done will only serve to undo the gains already registered in driving the very delicate process of bringing forth a new dispensation in Rwanda and by extension the African Great Lakes region."


Acceptance of donation with non-LGBT rights provision

In 2013, HRW accepted a $487,000 gift from Saudi billionaire Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber. The donation was solicited and managed by Roth. The donor had been the subject of HRW investigation up through 2012 for coercive business practices. Roth agreed to the Saudi demand that HRW not use this donation to support LGBT rights advocacy in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2020, HRW returned the donation to the Saudi billionaire. Acceptance of this donation by Roth led to internal disputes over whether this violated HRW ethics policies and over Roth's decision-making, though it did not affect Roth's status at HRW.


Denied entry


Egypt

In 2014, the Egyptian government blocked Roth from entering the country. He was traveling to Egypt to release a report on its government's 2013 Rabaa Square massacre of 817 sit-in protesters.


China

In December 2019, China announced unspecified sanctions against HRW and several other NGOs because of links to the
Hong Kong democracy movement Democratic development in Hong Kong has been a major issue since its transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997. The one country, two systems principle allows Hong Kong to enjoy high autonomy in all areas besides fore ...
. In January 2020, Roth said that he was denied entry to Hong Kong. He was planning to launch the organization's World Report, which had an essay saying China is a growing threat to human rights around the world. Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, told reporters he would not read the report, accusing Human Rights Watch of distorting the truth and claiming China's human rights situation is “the best it's been in history.” In August 2020, the Chinese government announced that it had imposed unspecified “sanctions” on Roth.


References


External links


Official HRW Biography of Kenneth Roth

Lecture transcript and video of Roth's speech at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego, September 2007
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, Kenneth 1955 births Living people American human rights activists American lawyers American people of German-Jewish descent Brown University alumni Human Rights Watch people People from Elmhurst, Illinois Yale Law School alumni