NEW YORK (AP) – The longtime leader of Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced yesterday he will step down this summer as executive director after nearly three decades at the helm of one of the world’s leading advocacy organisations.
Kenneth Roth ran the New York-based group as it shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for its efforts to ban anti-personnel land mines. The group also pushed to establish the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda called Roth an inspiration.
“Ken’s fearless passion for justice, his courage and compassion towards the victims of human rights violations and atrocity crimes was not just professional responsibility but a personal conviction to him,” she said.
Roth became executive director in 1993, when the group had a staff of about 60 and a USD7 million annual budget. It now has over 550 employees in more than 100 countries and a nearly USD100 million budget to campaign against human rights abuses.
“Ken Roth turned Human Rights Watch into a juggernaut for justice,” said Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Anthony Romero. “He has inspired a generation of human rights defenders to fight for a better world.”
