NEW YORK : US counter-terrorism policies, with their deliberate
use of "torture and mistreatment," put the global defense of human
rights on the back foot in 2005, Human Rights Watch said in its
annual report.
The New York-based monitor said the US strategy, as well as
fuelling terrorist recruitment, had hampered Washington's ability
to pressure other countries into respecting international
law.
"Fighting terrorism is central to the human rights cause," said
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "But using
illegal tactics against alleged terrorists is both wrong and
counterproductive."
The watchdog also criticized US allies in the war on terror for
undermining critical international protections, citing Britain for
seeking to send suspects to governments likely to torture and
Canada for moves to dilute a new treaty outlawing enforced
disappearances.
The European Union was also taken to task for subordinating human
rights in its relationships with others deemed useful in fighting
terrorism, such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.
The annual report charged both Moscow and Beijing with exploiting
the prevailing atmosphere to clamp down on political opponents by
branding them "Islamic terrorists."
In its critique of US policy, Human Rights Watch dismissed the
argument that cases of abusive interrogation could be put down to a
small number of "bad apples" in the military when they were clearly
"a conscious policy choice" by senior US government
officials.
Roth said evidence of that deliberate policy included the threat by
President George W. Bush to veto a bill opposing "cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment," and moves by Vice President Dick Cheney
to exempt the Central Intelligence Agency from the law.
"Responsibility for the use of torture and mistreatment can no
longer credibly be passed off to misadventures by low-ranking
soldiers on the nightshift," said Roth.
"The Bush administration must appoint a special prosecutor to
examine these abuses, and Congress should set up an independent,
bipartisan panel to investigate," he added.
The annual Human Rights Watch report comprised a survey of human
rights developments in more than 70 countries in 2005.
Outside the war on terror, the report documented numerous serious
abuses, including the massacre of thousands of demonstrators in
Uzbekistan in May and Sudan's "ethnic cleansing" policy in the
region of Darfur.
"Persistent atrocities" were reported in the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Chechnya, while "severe repression" continued in Burma,
North Korea, Turkmenistan, and the Chinese regions of Tibet and
Xinjiang.
The report also highlighted some bright spots in efforts to uphold
human rights, including India's decision to suspended most military
aid to Nepal after the king's coup.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was cited for forcing
Burma to relinquish its 2006 chairmanship because of its human
rights record, and Kyrgyzstan for withstanding intense pressure
from Uzbekistan to rescue all but four of 443 refugees from the
Andijan massacre.
- AFP
