doi:10.7916/90q0-kg07Oral history interview with Kenneth Roth, 2022Roth, Kennethoral historiesmixed materialPresidents--United StatesTorture--Government policy--United StatesMilitary courts--Government policy--United StatesHuman rights workersRoth, KennethObama, BarackHuman Rights Watch (Organization)Guantánamo Bay Detention CampKenneth Roth reflects on his career in human rights advocacy, and discusses his activities during the years of the Obama presidency, throughout which he was executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW). Roth outlines the historical development of HRW and the human rights movement, and situates the Obama administration's national security and foreign policy in the context of the presidential administrations that preceded it. Roth speaks widely about the range of issues and policies about which HRW advocated during the Obama years, and provides details about the organization's engagement with administration officials and his personal encounters with President Obama, including a May 2009 White House meeting to discuss issues including the possibility of prosecutions related to the Bush administration's use of torture, the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and the use of military commissions for the prosecution of terrorist suspects. Roth also tells the story of his attendance at the China state dinner in 2011, to which the administration invited him as part of their increasingly vocal approach to Chinese human rights abuses. Also discussed are the globalization of HRW's activities and operations, Roth's evaluation of the Obama administration's record on human rights, and the administration's participation in multilateral human rights institutions