Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Human rights must not stand in the way of American interests – Former US Secretary of State/ex-Exxon boss
Kaieteur News – On May 3, 2017, just three months into his tenure as US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, had cited that Americans should be vigilant not to let values like human rights create “obstacles” to the pursuit of its interests.
Former US Secretary of State and former CEO of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson
Tillerson served as the 69th U.S. Secretary of State from February 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 under President Donald Trump – and is also the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of American oil giant, ExxonMobil Corporation.
Following Tillerson’s remarks, the Brookings (an American research group) had reported that while speaking about values as an enduring guide to U.S. foreign policy, Tillerson made it crystal clear that when it comes to actual policies; national security and economic interests come first.
In fact he said, “Well-meaning principles like freedom and human rights sit on our shoulder like some guardian angel whispering in one ear to do the right thing…but only if it’s convenient to more important security and economic interests.”
Tillerson had instructed his team of diplomats that “we really have to understand, in each country or each region of the world that we’re dealing with, what are our national security interests, what are our economic prosperity interests, and then as we can advocate and advance our values, we should…”
He asserted that too often promoting ones value is “an obstacle” to the advancement of other interests. Tillerson went on a tour d’horizon of all the compelling issues on the U.S. foreign policy agenda and did not once mention the words values, democracy, or human rights.
In one speech, Tillerson tossed out over four decades of bipartisan consensus that human rights and democracy are: 1) essential components of U.S. national security and economic prosperity, and 2) not just American values but universal values that the United States, through its long and troubled history, has adopted as the north star of national prestige and international legitimacy.
According to a POLITICO article, Tillerson’s remarks had alarmed veteran diplomats since his comment sounded like a potential shift in American foreign policy and had provoked an outcry among former U.S. officials and human rights activists who feared America was abandoning a vital mission.
Two weeks after Tillerson’s comment, one of his top advisors wrote up a short tutorial in the form of a confidential memo to his boss, recapping, “the debate over how far to emphasize human rights, democracy promotion, and liberal values in American foreign policy.”
In fact, the POLITICO had reported that the May 17, 2017 memo reads like a crash course for a businessman-turned-diplomat, and its conclusion offers a starkly realist vision that the U.S. should use human rights as a club against its oppositions, like Iran, China and North Korea – while giving a pass to repressive allies like the Philippines, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
“Allies should be treated differently—and better—than adversaries. Otherwise, we end up with more adversaries, and fewer allies,” argued the memo, written by Tillerson’s influential policy aide, Brian Hook.
It was further stated that it was unclear what prompted Hook to author the memo, and whether he did so at Tillerson’s request amid a furor in foreign policy circles about Tillerson’s May 3, 2017 remarks, in which he said that “it’s really important that all of us understand the difference between policy and values” like “freedom, human dignity and the way people are treated.”
However, a photo of the memo, suggests that Tillerson, former CEO of ExxonMobil, was still on a steep learning curve when it comes to foreign affairs.
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