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Authoritarianism

  • Address at the University of Chicago China Conference, Chicago, Illinois

    It is safe to say that there is no aspect of American foreign policy so important and yet uncertain—no country so seemingly menacing about which we know so little—as China …We will ignore China, or think of her as weak, only at great danger to ourselves.

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  • Statement

    We know that China is a difficult and hostile power and that negotiations with China may be frustrating—and perhaps fruitless. But China exists.

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  • Senate Speech June 23, 1965

    China is profoundly suspicious of and hostile to us—as we are highly and rightly suspicious of her. But China is there. China will have nuclear weapons. And without her participation it will be infinitely more difficult, perhaps impossible in the long run, to prevent nuclear proliferation. At an appropriate time and manner, therefore, we should…

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  • Jose Zalaquett

    Jose Zalaquett

    Biography: José Zalaquett began his career as a founder of the modern human rights movement worldwide, campaigning while a law student for Salvador Allende. Upon Allende’s election as president of Chile in 1970, Zalaquett served a two-year term as cabinet minister, which he left for a post at the university. Shortly thereafter in 1973, General…

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  • Guillaume Ngefa Atondoko

    Guillaume Ngefa Atondoko

    Biography: Researching, recording, and exposing grave human rights abuses committed by Zaire’s notorious dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, Guillaume Ngefa risked his life on a daily basis. As founder and president of his country’s premier human rights organization, L’Association Africaine de Défense des Droits de l’Homme (African Association for the Defense of Human Rights, or ASADHO),…

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  • Freedom Neruda

    Freedom Neruda

    Biography: Journalism has become one of the world’s most dangerous professions, with dozens of deaths and hundreds imprisoned because they exercised their freedom of speech. Freedom Neruda exemplifies the extraordinary courage of these engaged journalists who report the news despite severe restrictions by the state. Born Teiti Roch D’Assomption in the Ivory Coast in 1956,…

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  • Hyeon Kim

    Hyeon Kim

    Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Young Defender Hyeon Kim leads the University Students’ Association for Unification (USAU), the largest Korean human rights organization for college students, boasting over 330 college students from the North and South Koreas. His introduction to the topic began when his grandfather, a North Korean defector, left the country at the…

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  • This American is a political prisoner in Cambodia. How is that okay?

    Tags Share Kerry Kennedy is a human rights lawyer and president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Jared Genser is also a human rights lawyer. Both serve as pro bono counsel to imprisoned Cambodian American Theary Seng. This weekend, President Biden will visit Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the U.S.-ASEAN Summit, where he will emphasize the…

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  • 5 Things to Know About the Paul Rusesabagina Case

    5 Things to Know About the Paul Rusesabagina Case

    Tags Share July 27, Carine Kanimba, the youngest daughter of Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina, testified before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee about a malware attack on her phone allegedly carried out by the Paul Kagame-led Rwandan government which has prosecuted and jailed her father over trumped-up allegations of terrorism. Here’s what you need to…

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  • Repression in Cuba: First year anniversary of the July 11th protests

    Tags Share One year ago, the Cuban population took to the streets to protest the increasingly deteriorating socio-economic and institutional conditions in the country. Cubans, both in Cuba and around the world, protested the authoritarian regime, the undermining of civil liberties and fundamental rights, as well as the profound socio-economic crisis worsened by the Covid-19…

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  • Finally there could be an opportunity for truth and justice in Oswaldo Payá’s death

    Finally there could be an opportunity for truth and justice in Oswaldo Payá’s death

    Tags Share For more than 60 years now, my family has had grave concerns about the restriction of fundamental rights of the Cuban people, concerns that have remained strong despite the march of time and the repeated failures of U.S. foreign policy to support the Cuban people. While the players and technology have changed since…

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