Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume II, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs

200. Briefing Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs (Derian) to Acting Secretary of State Christopher¹

Washington, April 30, 1980

Problems Over the Next Several Weeks and Months

REF: S/S Memorandum of April 29²

1. Credibility of Policy. The human rights community and the public increasingly think the policy has been downgraded if not discarded. We need soon a strong Presidential statement similar to that of December 6, 1978³ and an early address on the policy by the Secretary designate.

2. Over Identification with Repressive Governments. There is a growing tendency to permit other policy concerns to dilute our human rights principles and policy. I am apprehensive about the evolution of our relationships with Argentina, Zaire, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Guatemala and Pakistan. We need to examine them carefully, in terms of our human rights policy and our long term interests. We are too “close” to these repressive and unstable governments.

3. Asylum. The massive influx of Cubans and Haitians into Florida is placing tremendous stress on HA’s ability to review asylum requests. We have over 10,000 from Haitians that will have to be re-evaluated once litigation in southern Florida is resolved. All Cuban cases require case-by-case asylum review. We will be swamped. Over 175 other asylum cases (mostly Iranian) are received each week, further straining our understaffed capacity.

4. Human Rights Conventions. Passage is urgent to attenuate the criticism we will receive in Madrid for our failure to ratify.

5. CSCE. In view of the recent arrival of key players in the Madrid exercise, you personally should provide broad policy guidance for our delegation head.

6. Central America. The interagency working group on El Salvador was expanded into a Central America working group because of political developments in Nicaragua and the need to devise a strategy to deal with growing violence in Guatemala. Nongovernmental organizations strenuously opposed and are not reconciled to our decision to provide security assistance to El Salvador. We justify our assistance as intended to advance human rights. In view of this public commitment, and the difficult decisions to be taken HA should participate in the proposed PRC on Central America.

7. Security Assistance. We need a better mechanism to ensure that human rights concerns are factored into the allocation of security assistance and that security assistance is coordinated with economic assistance. Our first preference is for the Christopher Committee to assume this responsibility. Alternatives are the creation of a new committee analogous to the Interagency Committee or an AECB with a broadened mandate.

8. Korea. General Chun Doo Hwan’s recent press conference, and his assumption of the KCIA directorship, make me profoundly uneasy.⁴ We must continue to press the ROK to lift martial law and continue political liberalization. We must disabuse General Chun of incipient notions he may harbor of perpetuating the Yushin system or becoming a new Park.

9. Taiwan. We anticipate heightened interest and concern from Congress and other groups about the Taiwan authorities’ handling of the Kaohsiung incident last December.⁵ Eight participants received sentences from 12 years to life imprisonment. Thirty-three others are currently on trial facing lesser charges. Ten more (including the leader of the United Presbyterian Church in Taiwan) were indicted on April 29 and will be tried in a military court. The trials, while open, were a sham. Signed confessions were extracted through intimidation and torture. These trials have serious implications for Taiwan’s internal stability. The authorities have effectively removed the most potent oppositionists from the political scene and delayed progress toward the process of political liberalization on the island. We must consider how we can reverse this disturbing trend. One possibility is review of aspects of our military sales relationship.

10. OPIC. The Department is accused of laxity in enforcing Section 239 of the Foreign Assistance Act.⁶ Only two applications for OPIC insurance have been denied on human rights grounds. While critics grudgingly accept the interpretation that OPIC will be denied only when it involves direct assistance to a violator government, we must not make any move which could weaken this interpretation. We need a better review of OPIC activities in the interagency committee.

11. DOD Activity in Human Rights Problem Countries. We need to get a handle on the myriad of DOD activities (ship visits, visits of high ranking U.S. military) in countries with human rights problems. Some bureaus approach the problem systematically. Others handle it on an ad hoc basis if at all. We need a Department-wide policy and coordination mechanism.

1. Source: Department of State, Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, 1980 Human Rights Subject Files, Lot 82D180, SHUM Policies 1980. Confidential. Drafted by Salmon and concurred in by Palmer. Derian did not initial the memorandum. Christopher served as acting Secretary of State April 28–May 2 and May 4–May 8.
2. Tarnoff, in a memorandum dated April 29 and addressed to the regional and functional bureaus and other Department of State offices, circulated Christopher’s request that each Bureau prepare “a list of eight to ten problems which it faces over the next several weeks and months. These issues should be described briefly and could be stated simply in cases when the Bureau is confident that the Acting Secretary is fully familiar with the question. In any event, papers should not exceed two pages.” (Ibid.)
3. See Document 176.
4. During an April 29 news conference, Lieutenant General Chun Doo Hwan, Commander of the South Korean Security Command and Acting Director of KCIA, indicated that he did not have the authority to suspend martial law in South Korea, which had been imposed following Park Chung Hee’s October 1979 assassination, and noted that it should not be lifted until the right conditions developed. Chun and several other military officers had seized power in a December 1979 coup d’etat. See William Chapman, “Key Korean General Says It’s Too Early To Lift Martial Law,” The Washington Post, April 30, 1980, p. A–25.
5. On December 10, 1979, police attempted to block a World Human Rights Day rally in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, prompting 10,000 protesters to attack unarmed security troops. See “10,000 in Taiwan City Clash With Police on Rights Issue,” The New York Times, December 11, 1979, p. A–5.
6. See footnotes 6, 7, and 11, Document 108. Public Law 95–268 (H.R. 9179), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation Amendments Act of 1978, which the President signed into law on April 24, 1978, amended the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and added Section 239. (Congress and the Nation, Volume V, 1977–1980, pp. 268–269)