Jimmy Carter introduced human rights into US policies, helped oust Philippine dictator

When former US President Jimmy Carter introduced human rights into his foreign policy initiatives, it marked the beginning of the end of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship.

Carter's administration stressed adherance to human rights in its relationships with other countries and marked a cooling of support for Ferdinand Marccos, who had declared martial law in the Philippines marked with detaining Marcos critics and the "disappearance" of scores of anti-Marcos crticis. Until Carter came into office, previous US administrations had tolerated the Marcos dictatorshop in order to maintain US military bases in the Philippines.

“Jimmy Carter brought the human rights movement into the halls of power and worked to create a government guided by human dignity,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch.

Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. Although his presidency lasted only one term, he continued his advocacy for human rights after he left the White House.

Carter was sworn in as the 39th president of the United States in 1977 and immediately stood out with a foreign policy agenda that prioritized international human rights. He championed principles drawn from the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which for the first time established an internationally recognized foundation for “freedom, justice and peace in the world.” 

After the "secret" bombing in Cambodia and US defeat in Vietnam and Watergate affair led to the ouster of President Richard Nixon tarnishing the institution of the Presidency, Carter's emphasis on human rights was a breath of fresh air and provided encouragement for the growing anti-Marcos movement both in the Philippines and in the United States. 

Carter’s human rights records had its shortcomings. Walking the tightrope between national security and how much he could do to persuade the Philippine dictator to return tdemocracy to he Philippines. At times he failed to condemn abuses of longtime allies—such as Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Suharto in Indonesia—in favor of other US interests. 

But behind the scenes, he kept pushing for democratic reforms under Marcos' martial law regime by tying those reforms to the future of the US military bases in the Philippines. One of the enduring legacies of Carter in the Philippines was the 1979 amendment to the Military Bases Agreement. The Philippines gained greater control over its sovereign territory with the US pledging $500 million in military and economic aid over five years as compensation.

In 1986 he was among the independent monitors of the Phiippines elections in 1986, which Marcos staged under pressure from the US. The monitors reported numerous voting anomalies but Marcos was declared the winner over Corazon Aquino, the widow of assassinated Marcos foe, Ninoy Aquino.

'I think Marcos stole the election,' said Carter, after the Marcos-controled Philippine Senate declared Marcos the winner  on Feb. 15.

"The outcome would have been Aquino's victory if the election had been fair," said Carter.

'It would please me if President Reagan would announce that as far as the United States is concerned we did not recognize this as a legitimate election and we were not any longer going to support the Marcos government.'

Carter predicted that Marcos' rule would last no 'more than a few more weeks or a few more months.' Indeed, on Feb. 22, the famous People Power revolution was launched, forcing Marcos and his family to flee Manila to live in Hawaii.

He is perhaps best known for brokering the Camp David Accords, which resulted in a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. But his foreign policy efforts included the first visit by a US president to sub-Saharan Africa, the end of longstanding support for the abusive Somoza government in Nicaragua, and prompting Congress to mandate annual State Department human rights country reports. His administration created formal procedures to focus policymaking attention on human rights.

Carter established the Department of Education, which elevated programs to support students in poverty and with disabilities to the cabinet level while providing the executive branch with a vehicle for civil rights work. He also appointed more women and people of color as federal judges than all previous US administrations combined.

After leaving office, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, founded The Carter Center in 1982. They worked to address issues they did not adequately address in the White House, focusing primarily on promoting peace, supporting democracy, and improving health around the world.

Jimmy Carter hands over the keys of a new Habitat for Humanity-built house in the Philippines.

Carter’s 1994 trip to North Korea led to an agreement with Kim Il Sung to put his nuclear program on hold, which may have headed off a developing crisis. Following the 1991 coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti, Carter brokered eleventh-hour negotiations with opposition leaders that averted US military intervention and restored Aristide to power.

Through The Carter Center, the former president also secured the release of political prisoners in North Korea and the Gambia, monitored over 100 elections in 39 countries plus the United States, and helped to nearly wipe out Guinea worm disease, which during the 1980s afflicted millions of people in poor and remote areas.

He and Rosalynn demonstrated their commitment to providing housing to those in need by establishing a decades-long partnership with Habitat for Humanity. They worked alongside thousands of volunteers to build affordable housing in 14 countries.

In 1999, the former President and his wife and Habitat for Humanity came to the Philippines as part of Jimmy Carter Work Project, which builtalmost 300 homes for low-income Filipinos with the assistance of over 14,000 volunteers from 32 countries.

In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the first US president to receive the award for contributions made after leaving the Oval Office. The Nobel committee cited “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

Throughout his post-presidency, Carter used his platform to speak up on some of the most pressing human rights issues of the era, promoting racial justice, the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, the rights of women, and more. In 2007, he published Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, courageously recognizing Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians and calling for an end to Israeli human rights abuses.

“Jimmy Carter’s commitment to human rights has left an indelible mark on the global human rights landscape,” Hassan said. “He set a powerful example for world leaders to make human rights a priority in their policies at home and abroad.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X or at the blog Views From the Edge.