ABSTRACT
An extensive reorganisation of the Executive Branch was undertaken by the Carter Administration to ensure that various departments and agencies would comply with human-rights laws and implement policy in accordance with relevant Congressional guidelines. Human rights specialists were added to various bureaus and agencies, including the Agency for International Development and the National Security Council. Although the Human Rights Bureau is represented on the inter-agency Arms Export Control Board, that body is not effectively geared to the consideration of human-rights concerns. If the Group votes against a proposal, it may do so without further comment, or it may recommend a demarche—to be made publicly or privately—explaining how the human-rights factor was determinative. Meanwhile, the Executive has been keeping its side of the bargain by successfully using its weighted vote in several global lending institutions to defeat applications by the more pernicious human rights offenders.
