Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin

encourage improvement. As if to underscore that the undertaking was not a massive
one, Lister asked for drafts to be submitted to him by July 22, only one week later. 79
A year later, the reports had broadened in scope. Lister’s memo to ARA Office
Directors from 1976 outlines a more complex structure; the reports were to
systematically provide information on the civil and political rights delineated in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Rights covered included those related to
integrity of the person, such as slavery, torture, arbitrary arrests, and fair trials; as
well as other liberties such as freedom of assembly, religion, and movement. 80
It is unclear to what extent Lister himself shaped the structure of these first
reports. Beyond the congressionally-mandated requirements, Lister’s correspondence
suggests that the outline for the reports was largely determined within the Office of
the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs and the subsequently-created human rights
bureau. 81 Much debate also pertained to whether draft text for the reports should first
be prepared in Washington, D.C. or by embassies in the field. During the drafting
process in 1977, it had initially been decided that each regional bureau in
Washington, D.C. would have discretion to determine whether the first drafts were
prepared in Washington, D.C. or by embassies in the field. In June 1977, Lister wrote
to inform ARA officers that “at a Departmental meeting” it had been decided that all
first drafts would be prepared by the regional bureaus in Washington, D.C.,
subsequently approved by the human rights bureau, and then sent “to the field for
comment and recommendations.” 82
72