Rights Eroded in War on Terrorism, Amnesty Says by The Washington Post / Agence France Presse 9:11am 27th May, 2004   May 27, 2004    "Rights Eroded in War on Terrorism, Amnesty Says", by Peter Slevin. (The Washington Post )    The US Bush administration has "openly eroded human rights" to win the war on terrorism and sparked a backlash that has made the world more dangerous, Amnesty International charged yesterday. "As a strategy, the war on terror is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle," Amnesty's secretary general, Irene Khan, asserted in releasing the human rights group's annual report. She condemned militants unequivocally but said governments are "losing their moral compass."    "Sacrificing human rights in the name of security at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad, and using preemptive military force where and when it chooses have neither increased security nor ensured liberty," Kahn said of the United States.    Amnesty's report comes amid deepening questions about U.S. interrogation techniques and the treatment of international prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Abuses have led to criminal charges against American soldiers and a range of inquiries into what orders and understandings were given by higher-ups.    White House spokesman Scott McClellan quickly dismissed Amnesty's conclusions. "My response is that the war on terrorism has resulted in the liberation of 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the protection of their rights," McClellan said. "People in those countries did not have the kinds of protections that we're used to in the United States, and now they do."    Amnesty researchers identified 177 violent groups that have operated in 65 countries in the past four years. More than half have killed civilians, and one in five has committed rapes or other sexual violence.    The response by governments has often been troubling and self-defeating, Amnesty officials said. Under cover of fighting "terrorists," many governments killed civilians and used torture and indefinite detention to challenge militants.    William F. Schulz, the organization's U.S. director, called it a "global street brawl, with governments and armed groups duking it out and innocent civilians suffering severely." Among examples of repression, Amnesty pointed to China's persecution of Uighurs, Egypt's treatment of Islamists and the brutal fight by Russia to prevent Chechen independence. Spain and France drew criticism for what Amnesty called "regressive" anti-terrorist restrictions.    Amnesty challenged the Bush administration for using what it termed "indiscriminate and disproportionate means." A central argument is that the United States, long seen as a model, weakens international norms when it fails to honor the Geneva Conventions or guarantee access to lawyers and public, nonmilitary trials.    Hundreds of foreigners remained in indefinite detention without charge or trial outside the U.S. mainland, Amnesty noted. The nonprofit organization also said the United States had unlawfully killed Iraqi citizens.    State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher questioned Amnesty's conclusions, calling Khan's comment about the U.S. anti-terrorism fight being bereft of vision "a sound bite that we would disagree with."    "This president has enunciated a very clear vision of defending civilization, defending society, defending decency from people who want only destruction," Boucher told reporters.    © 2004 The Washington Post Company    May 26, 2004 (Agence France Presse)    LONDON - The United States has proved "bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle" in its fight against terrorism and invasion of Iraq, human rights group Amnesty International charged in a scathing report.    The London-based organisation's 2004 report, while also damning of rights violations in dozens of other nations, particularly targeted the Washington-led "war on terror" for sanctioning abuses in the name of freedom.    The unilateral nature of the conflict to unseat Saddam Hussein in Iraq had additionally "virtually paralyzed" the United Nations' role in guaranteeing human rights on a global level, Amnesty said Wednesday.    The 339-page document, which detailed the human rights situation in 157 nations and territories, reserved the most column inches for the United States, with damning criticism also meted out to global giants Russia and China.    Other perennial violators were also highlighted such as North Korea, Cuba and the central Asian state of Turkmenistan, where Amnesty summarised the human rights situation simply as "appalling".    However the overriding theme of the report, outlined by Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan in an opening statement, singled out the United States for condemnation.    "The global security agenda promulgated by the US administration is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle," she charged. "Sacrificing human rights in the name of security at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad and using pre-emptive military force where and when it chooses have neither increased security nor ensured liberty."    The notion of fighting a campaign against terrorism so as to support human rights while simultaneously trampling on them to achieve this was no more than "double speak", she added.    The year 2003 had also "dealt a mortal blow" to the UN's vision of universal human rights, with the global body "virtually paralysed in its efforts to hold states to account" over the issue.    While the report only briefly dealt with damning allegations that US and British troops tortured Iraqi prisoners -- these came to light relatively recently -- it had harsh words about the nations' overall record in Iraq. "Coalition forces failed to live up fully to their responsibilities as occupying powers, including their duty to restore and maintain public order and safety, and to provide food, medical care and relief assistance," the report's section on Iraq said.    Elsewhere, Amnesty detailed a long list of abuses in Russia, noting that the country's security forces "continue to enjoy almost total impunity for serious violations of human rights and international law" in the breakaway republic of Chechnya.    China, despite the accession of a new political regime under President Hu Jintao during 2003, had made "no significant attempt" to end the use of torture and other abuses, which "remained widespread", the report said.    In the Middle East, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority were taken to task for alleged rights violations, with Amnesty saying that some actions by the Israeli army, such as the destruction of property, "constituted war crimes".    One of the most damning assessments was handed to Cuba, which saw a "severe deterioration in the human rights situation" during 2003, most notably through the jailing of dozens of dissidents after "hasty and unfair" trials.    Click on the link below to access the Amnesty International Report 2004.    © 2004 AFP Visit the related web page
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item