VOA慢速英语20060311a

IN THE NEWS - United States Releases Yearly Report on Human Rights Around the WorldBy Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Saturday, March 11, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, the State Department released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. American officials use these yearly reports to develop policies, carry out diplomacy¹ and decide about aid and other assistance.


Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presenting this year's country reports

The first ones appeared in nineteen seventy-seven as required by Congress. They began with eighty-two countries which all received American aid. Now, there are reports on one hundred ninety-six countries.

The reports are based on rights described in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These include individual, civil, political and worker rights.

Others are freedom from torture or cruel punishment and from long terms in jail without charges. They also include freedom from secret imprisonment² and from other violations³ of the right to life, liberty and personal security.

The new report says countries ruled by a single person or a small group are often the most systematic⁴ human rights violators. Seven countries are listed as examples: North Korea, Burma, Iran, Zimbabwe, Cuba and Belarus.

It says nations that violate the rights of their own people are likely to be threats to other nations as well. Here the examples given are Burma, North Korea, Iran and Syria.

Some of the most serious violations take place during armed conflicts. One example listed is the continued violence in the Darfur area of Sudan. Others are the conflicts in Nepal, Ivory Coast, Chechnya and elsewhere in Russia's Northern Caucasus area, and countries in central Africa.

In Columbia, human rights violations continued but fewer killings⁵ and kidnappings were reported.

The report also names countries that used laws against the media and non-governmental organizations last year. Examples listed are Cambodia, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Belarus and Russia.

The State Department report praises nations that held democratic elections in two thousand five. The examples given are Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Indonesia, Lebanon and Liberia. Nations where serious problems were reported in elections included Egypt, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

The report says many countries had mixed progress last year on democratic reform and human rights. For example, it notes that President Pervez Musharraf has stated his support for democratic change in Pakistan. But it says that country's human rights record continued to be poor.

The Chinese government now reacts to American criticism with its own reports on the United States. China's report called American democracy a game for the rich. It says the United States has a high murder rate, spies on its own people and violates the rights of prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

1 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

2 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

3 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

4 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

5 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。