U.S. State Department's 2003 Country Reports On Human Rights Practices by UN Wire 5:17pm 27th Feb, 2004   February 26, 2004    The United States yesterday accused members of the U.N. Human Rights Commission of ignoring rights abuses in their own countries and said the commission must be reinforced by the presence of democratic countries.  Washington's annual rights report also slammed predictable targets China, Cuba and Iran but chastised allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well.    The U.S. State Department's 2003 Country Reports On Human Rights Practices blamed the U.N. commission's composition and leadership for a failed mission last year.    "With Libya in the chair and such countries as Zimbabwe, Cuba, Sudan, China and Syria, which fail to protect their own citizens' rights, as members, the 2003 session of the commission fell short in several respects," the report said, specifying defeated resolutions on Zimbabwe, Sudan and Chechnya.    The report suggested a democracy caucus at the commission of "like-minded countries that would ... advance goals consistent with democratic values" (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo! News, Feb. 26).    The State Department rapped China for "backsliding on key human rights issues," citing the arrests of democracy activists working on the Internet as well as executions and torture in Tibet.  Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner said Washington was "heading in thedirection" of seeking a UNHCR resolution censuring China, something it usually does but decided to forego last year in hopes of better progress on human rights.    Perennial target Cuba's record worsened, the report said, due to the arrest of 75 activists and journalists in March.  Iran also came in for criticism over "summary executions, disappearances, torture and other degrading treatment" (George Gedda, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Feb. 26).  North Korea was labeled "one of the world's most inhumane regimes" for killing and practicing torture, forced abortion and infanticide, and Burma and Zimbabwe were faulted as well.    In a move praised by rights experts, though, the report also took several U.S. allies to task (Tom Carter, Washington Times, Feb. 26).  Israeli security forces had perpetrated "serious human rights abuses" against Palestinians by using excessive force and targeting civilian areas, according to the report, which also faulted Palestinian forces for colluding with terrorist groups.  It did not mention the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.    The State Department found improvements in Saudi Arabia's record but said credible reports of torture in prisons kept the country's rating poor (Gedda, AP/Yahoo! News).  Two other allies in the war on terrorism, Pakistan and Turkey, were also censured.  Pakistan's security forces had committed extrajudicial killings and other abuses, the report said, while in Turkey torture and impunity had persisted.    Amnesty International's director of government relations, Alex Arriaga, voiced satisfaction that in the case of crucial ally Turkey, the administration "didn't try to put on a happy face" (Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 26).     Human Rights Watch Washington director Tom Malinowski praised the document as a whole.  "This report pulls no punches," he said.    Amnesty International USA Executive Director William Schulz, however, said the report's inconsistency with U.S. foreign policy was a problem.  "Indeed, the U.S. is increasingly guilty of a 'sincerity gap,' overlooking abuses by allies and justifying action against foes by post-facto reference to human rights," Schulz said.    "In response, many foreign governments will choose to blunt criticism of their abuses by increasing cooperation with the U.S. war on terror rather than by improving human rights" (Carter, Washington Times).    In other cases, Russia stood accused of manipulating elections, intimidating the political opposition and trampling rights in Chechnya (Richter, Los Angeles Times).  Afghanistan's rights situation had improved, the report said, although local security forces were guilty of extrajudicial killings and torture (AFP/ReliefWeb, Feb. 25).  South Korea was identified as a "major origin, transit and destination point" for the trafficking of women and children, a charge South Korean officials denied (Korea Herald, Feb. 26).  The State Department condemned Indonesia's record as poor, saying serious abuses had persisted in the restive province of Aceh, where security forces "murdered, tortured, raped, beat and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist movements" (AFP/Jakarta Post, Feb. 26).    Click on the link below to access The U.S. State Department's 2003 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Visit the related web page
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