By Sarah Akbar

The State Department announced Friday that Secretary Kerry would not be accompanying President Obama on his trip to Cuba later this month, raising suspicions that there were disagreements over which dissidents the President would be allowed to meet. Shortly after Kerry’s announcement, the White House was firm in its view that the President alone would decide which members of civil society he would meet. The Cuban Commission for Human Rights reported that 1,414 political arrests occurred in Cuba in the month of January, and U.S. Representative Illeana Ros-Lehtinen brought up that more than 8,000 people had been allegedly arbitrarily arrested since the two countries decided to normalize relations in December of 2014.

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March 17, 2016

By Ena Cefo

A bill calling for life sentences for some homosexual acts has passed through Gambia’s National Assembly and is now awaiting approval by president Yahya Jammeh. President Jammeh has made his views on homosexuality clear when calling homosexuals “vermin” and homosexuality one of the “biggest threats to human existence.” Human Rights First sees the bill as another step in the rise of homophobia in many African nations, analogous to the strict anti-gay bill previously passed in Uganda, which was recently ruled unconstitutional by the Ugandan Supreme Court. In response to the Gambian bill, Secretary of State John Kerry urged the Government of Gambia to “protect the human rights of all Gambians.”

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September 26, 2014

By Abraham Shanedling

Concerned about the escalating situation in Central African Republic, the U.S. Secretary of State has warned that the United States is prepared to impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for the religious violence, according to Reuters. 

Last week, there were 30 deaths in just three days, according to a statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Nearly one million people have already been displaced by fighting that began when Muslim Seleka rebels took power in the majority Christian country.

Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that the United States may impose sanctions against past and present leaders who “pursue their own selfish ends by abetting or encouraging the violence.”

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February 05, 2014

By Katie Bacharach

Edgar Tamayo, a Mexican citizen, has been executed in Texas despite a recent statement by Mexico’s foreign ministry that going ahead with the execution would be a "clear violation" of the United States’ international obligations, according to the LA Times and Reuters. 

Tamayo was convicted of fatally shooting a Houston police officer in 1994. However, Tamayo was never informed of his right to diplomatic assistance, enshrined in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the United States had violated the Vienna Convention for the case of 51 Mexicans, including Tamayo, who had been sentenced to the death penalty without being informed of their rights to consular assistance. The court ordered the United States to reconsider the convictions. 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had also urged Texas to reconsider the execution because it could impact the way American citizens are treated abroad.

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January 23, 2014

 Photo courtesy of the U.S. State Department. 

By Abraham Shanedling

Secretary of State John Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday in Rome, seeking to assure Israel of the Obama administration’s resolve in negotiating with Iran.

However, as The New York Times reported, Kerry’s comments did little to persuade Netanyahu, who demanded that any deal with Iran must include a ban on uranium-enriching centrifuges and the dismantling of a plutonium heavy water plant in Arak.

“We will pursue a diplomatic initiative with eyes wide open,” Kerry told reporters, adding that Iran would be held to the same standards as other states if it was to prove its nuclear program is peaceful.

Netanyahu stressed to Kerry that Iran’s nuclear program poses an existential threat to Israel. “They should get rid of the amassed fissile material, and they shouldn’t have underground nuclear facilities,” Netanyahu told reporters.

The next round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 are scheduled for early next month in Geneva.

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October 24, 2013