Elisa Massimino Makes the Case for American Leadership on Human Rights at ABA Midyear Meeting

Yesterday Elisa Massimino, Human Rights First President and CEO, spoke to the American Bar Association (ABA) during its midyear meeting. She laid out the case for American leadership on human rights.

In the speech, she explained why American leadership on human rights is good for both the United States–the country is strongest when it lives up to its ideals–and the world. Regardless of the failures of the United States, activists around the world continue to seek support from Washington for the simple reason that it matters. It can make the difference between freedom and repression, life and death.

The world also looks to the United States during severe human rights and humanitarian crises, Massimino points out, and when the United States fails to rise to the occasion, tyrants and other forces of oppression inevitably fill the void.