Darfur, Eastern Congo, North Korea, Burma to name a few.

There are many big human rights challenges today. On the one hand there are the mass atrocities -- places like Darfur or Eastern Congo where . . . where many, many people are killed and displaced. There are highly repressive governments -- say North Korea, or Burma, or Uzbekistan, or Turkmenistan -- where just the severity of the government repression deserves attention. There are places where wars have become so chaotic that . . . that the lack of government is a problem. I think Iraq is an example of that. So in that sense there are many situations where . . . where violence and repression call out for urgent attention. But there are other, you know, quieter forms of abuse that we tend not to . . . you tend not to see in the headlines, but that nonetheless affect many, many people quite severely. And here I think about, say, the severe restrictions on the rights of women that exist in many parts of the world. I think about migrant workers who are forced to travel long distances, and in a foreign environment often are . . . exist completely without respect for rights, wholly at the whim of their employer. I think about, you know, children who may be drafted to be soldiers -- you know physically seized and coerced to become soldiers. Or who have to serve as . . . as domestics in lieu of going to school. So there are many of these quieter issues that don't get into the headlines, but that are also acute problems as well.Recorded on: 8/14/07

There are many big human rights challenges today. On the one hand there are the mass atrocities -- places like Darfur or Eastern Congo where . . . where many, many people are killed and displaced. There are highly repressive governments -- say North Korea, or Burma, or Uzbekistan, or Turkmenistan -- where just the severity of the government repression deserves attention. There are places where wars have become so chaotic that . . . that the lack of government is a problem. I think Iraq is an example of that. So in that sense there are many situations where . . . where violence and repression call out for urgent attention. But there are other, you know, quieter forms of abuse that we tend not to . . . you tend not to see in the headlines, but that nonetheless affect many, many people quite severely. And here I think about, say, the severe restrictions on the rights of women that exist in many parts of the world. I think about migrant workers who are forced to travel long distances, and in a foreign environment often are . . . exist completely without respect for rights, wholly at the whim of their employer. I think about, you know, children who may be drafted to be soldiers -- you know physically seized and coerced to become soldiers. Or who have to serve as . . . as domestics in lieu of going to school. So there are many of these quieter issues that don't get into the headlines, but that are also acute problems as well.Recorded on: 8/14/07