Page 35 - NKHR Hawaii Conference 2023

a part of a holistic policy is important.

DR. STEPHEN NOERPER

T ank you.
Ambassador Tan, as a former ambassador, how do you f nd the power of these testimonials
that we’ve just heard, and how does that drive you in the policy and professional arena?

AMBASSADOR MORSE TAN

When I think of the suf ering of the people who suf er egregious human rights violations
and mass atrocity crimes, it’s a great motivation for me to remember why I’m doing the
work that I’m doing, no matter how challenging it is. It’s not more challenging than what
these mass atrocities victims have been suf ering. And so that’s something that I recall
and dwell on, and I draw strength and inspiration from.

When I was working as the ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, the thing that
was called the biggest human rights achievement of the administration was mass atrocity
determinations against the Chinese Communist party in Xinjiang Province against the
Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslim minorities.

It got done on January 19, 2021—just barely crossed the finish line and the Chinese
Communist Party reacted very strongly against it. They called the Secretary of State
a “Domesday Clown.” I don’t know what that means. Maybe it lost something in
translation from the Chinese. T ey sanctioned 20 or 30 of us from being able to go into
the PRC. We are “visa sanctioned.” If I’m not included in that group, then they don’t
know the primary policy of ce from which this emanated and was pushed forward.

We were also trying to push forward mass atrocity determinations in regards to Burma,
but that didn’t quite get across the finish line, and credit to the Biden administration
for getting that across the f nish line. T ey did so about a year after there was a coup in
Burma. And as I saw the coup in Burma, I couldn’t help wondering if the mass atrocity
determination had happened before the coup,

“Would it have prevented it?”

That is a historical counterfactual that none of us can answer because that’s not what
happened. But I was very pleased when that got across the f nish line too.

NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS HAWAII CONFERENCE 2023 35