Re: US delivers human rights report, By Beata Balogová, March 1 - 7, 2004, Vol. 10, No 8
For the record, the US State Department compiles these annual reports for a domestic audience, not a foreign audience, and does not view it as relevant whether or not another country reads it, bothers with it, or just ignores it. In other words, in this particular case, Slovakia is not the intended audience. America is. Slovaks can blissfully ignore the thing.
These reports are compiled for the American business and investment community to provide them with more information about the climate for doing business in a foreign location, to determine the safety of investments, and to make moral choices (when they are so inclined). They are also directed toward American tourists and travellers abroad.
Reports for the foreign audience are compiled by Amnesty International, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and others. Americans also use these international reports.
Don Merritt,
Berlin
