Office of the Historian

168. Memorandum From the Global Issues Cluster of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

Washington, October 20, 1978

SUBJECT

  • Priorities

HUMAN RIGHTS

Priorities

—Raise global awareness of human rights so that the issue is a regular concern of all governments and an expected component of relations both with other countries and with the international community. Met.

—Organize U.S. foreign policy making so that human rights concerns are taken into account in all relevant decisions including foreign assistance, political actions and economic benefits. Partially Met—excessive delays and inconsistent decisions persist, mostly from uncertain direction at the top.

—Begin the lengthy process of strengthening the international institutions (including the UN and its Commissions, the IFIs, and the regional human rights organizations) so that ultimately they can become the primary focus of international human rights activity. Partially Met—UN and OAS Commissions are vastly improved, some progress in gaining support in IFIs, long way still to go.

Our greatest weaknesses have been in the multilateral forums, particularly in coordinating those activities with bilateral policies, and making our level of representation in these forums commensurate with their growing importance. Increasingly in the months ahead we can expect to be attacked for hypocrisy in pursuing an aggressive human rights policy while we have still not ratified any of the many major international HR treaties. The Soviets will lead the way on this, followed eagerly by others whose pride has been hurt by our policies.

Consequently, as outlined in an earlier strategy memorandum,2 we see two key initiatives for the next year: ratification of the Genocide [Page 538] Treaty with preliminary hearings on the UN Covenants and the Racial Discrimination treaty; and, a campaign to repeal those HR amendments we feel are counter-productive, namely the public reporting requirements and the OPIC amendment.

[Omitted here is information unrelated to human rights.]

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Brzezinski Office File, Subject Chron File, Box 59, Administration’s Policy: NSC: 1978. Secret. No drafting information appears on the memorandum.↩
  2. Presumable reference to Tuchman Mathews’ October 2 memorandum to Brzezinski, printed as Document 167.↩