Human Rights Watch criticizes Western governments for allowing show elections by other counties
The New York Times reports: The advocacy group Human Rights Watch on Thursday said that the Bush administration was giving lip service to the promotion of democracy around the world by endorsing suspect elections while allowing human rights violations in those countries to go unchecked.
In a scathing report, the organization blamed the United States and Europe for undermining human rights by allowing autocrats to pretend they are democratic. The report cited Bahrain, Jordan, Nigeria, Russia and Thailand as acting “as if simply holding a vote is enough to prove a nation democratic, and Washington, Brussels and European capitals played along.”
Russia, Jordan and “even China,” the group said, have “gotten into the game” of merely using the word democracy to claim real democratic credentials. -- Rights Group Says U.S. Is Too Eager to Endorse Suspect Elections