By Alex Remmel, UNA-NCA Human Rights Committee Co-Chair (Contributor, Former UNA NCA President, A. Edward Elmendorf)
Like his predecessor and namesake of his award, Daniel Kronenfeld is a career diplomat and human rights advocate, unafraid to call out injustice and act for change. Like F. Allen “Tex” Harris, Kronenfeld’s eagerness to take full advantage of his position in the Foreign Service and government have allowed him to engage with human rights issues in a meaningful and effective way. Kronenfeld sees himself as a pragmatist, someone defined by their willingness to strive for marginal improvements where they can get them. As Kronenfeld put it, “don’t let your ideals get in the way of making forward progress.” Throughout his career in academia, as a Foreign Service officer and later through his work in the multilateral world, Kronenfeld has clearly relied on this sense of pragmatism to overcome obstacles and bring about incremental but important changes in human rights.
Kronenfeld described two pivotal experiences in his life that led him to the Foreign Service and ultimately his current position in Washington. First, in 1992, during a year spent teaching English in Bratislava, in what was then Czechoslovakia, Kronenfeld found himself face-to-face with what was, to him, an entirely new and unfamiliar landscape of ethnonationalism. Kronenfeld described his wonder at seeing the obvious cultural pride of Czechs and Slovaks who were emerging from nearly a half-century of suppression under the Soviets. But he witnessed something more discomfiting as well: ethnic prejudices that members of some groups held toward others, a phenomenon that often grew uglier when ethnic and state boundaries did not align. What Kronenfeld came to understand, however, is that these boundaries never perfectly align. This means there are always ethnic minorities at risk of persecution. The desire to understand ethnonationalism and prejudice led Kronenfeld to pursue a PhD in Political Science at Berkeley, where he focused on national identity in the former Soviet space. But it was his desire to do something meaningful on these and other issues that led him to join the Foreign Service.
The second pivotal experience that influenced Kronenfeld’s current work occurred after he had joined the Foreign Service. While head of the political section in Cambodia in 2015-18, Kronenfeld witnessed a period of mounting repression: the principal opposition party was banned, several independent media outlets were shuttered, leaders of major NGOs were imprisoned, and a civil society colleague was even gunned down in the street. To an extent he had not experienced before, human rights became a paramount concern for Kronenfeld and his team. He saw, in many ways, and for the first time, how his position provided him the chance to make a difference. Kronenfeld described his relief, for example, at seeing the government release five NGO leaders who had been held as political prisoners. This experience – and the desire to work with colleagues from other nations who had similar goals – is what led him to seek a position overseeing the work of the U.S. human rights team in Geneva, and ultimately to his current role.
While Kronenfeld made clear some of his concerns regarding the often-bureaucratic nature of the United Nations, he nevertheless saw ways in which the institution could be useful in advocating for human rights. In Cambodia, for example, when Kronenfeld worked with colleagues to draft a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council, calling attention to domestic repression, he was surprised at how concerned the government was. He realized that many governments that may be have been inured to criticism by single countries, were sensitive to being seen as “pariah states” by coalitions of countries. This made the UN an important arena. Kronenfeld added that the passion and commitment of many staff at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) led to opportunities to further leverage UN scrutiny to make palpable change. The power of the High Commissioner as a “bully pulpit” gave him an important role in advocating for human rights. Kronenfeld cited as examples of the achievements UN member states and entities can make, the creation of the Commission of Inquiry following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in April 2022 and the release of the High Commissioner’s assessment of human rights in Xinjiang later that summer.
When asked to provide some advice to emerging young professionals looking to pursue a human rights career, Kronenfeld noted the trade-offs in working for larger bureaucracies like the UN or the U.S. Department of State versus smaller NGOs or other advocacy organizations. In the former, one may have more power to effect change, but the requirements of negotiation and need to work within the constraints of the organization may limit the scope of that change. By contrast, working at an NGO may provide more freedom to advocate for larger scale transformation, but you are further removed from the spaces in which that transformation can be affected.
Daniel Kronenfeld’s passion to fight for and defend human rights from various angles speaks volumes to his character, dedication and commitment to the cause. We are very proud to be honoring him with such a fitting award.
