he ‘war on terror’ is failing and it shall continue to fail until precedence shall be given to limited interests of national security instead of human rights and security,” said Irene Khan, general secretary of Amnesty International presenting the 2006 Annual Report on human rights in the world – published in various countries simultaneously – on the theme “The Poor and the Disadvantaged Pay the Price of the War on Terror”.
Starting from Iraq: “When the great powers are too arrogant to review and modify their own strategies – said Khan – the highest price is paid by the poor and powerless: in this case, normal Iraqis: women, men and children”.
Meanwhile, said Khan, Israel and the Occupied Territories have disappeared from the international agenda, “aggravating the anguish and desperation of Palestinians and the fears of the Israeli people”. There are no doubts that the terrorism of armed groups is “unacceptable and unjustifiable”, but those responsible must be brought to ju8stice “through fair trials and not through torture and secret detentions” she added. The explicit reference is the US prison set up in Guantanamo, for which Amnesty has demanded it be shut down.
Facing the human rights situation in the world, the 2006 report also mentions Darfur: “The intermittent attention and the weak action of the UN – said Khan – have shown themselves to be pathetically insufficient with respect to what was necessary”. The year 2005 was not entirely bad said Amnesty: “there were clear signs of hope along with the frustrations” said Khan, noting that last year witnessed “one of the largest ever mobilizations of
civil society against poverty and the struggle in favor of social and economic rights”.
When the great powers are too arrogant to review and modify their own strategies – said Khan – the highest price is paid by the poor and powerless: in this case, normal Iraqis: women, men and children
Positive, according to Amnesty, was also the evolution of inquiries of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over Uganda, with the incrimination for war crimes and crimes against humanity of those responsible for the war in the north of the African country. A step forward for Amnesty, was also noted for the house arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and for the arrest warrant issued against former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori.
The report notes that despite attempts by courts and parliaments to reestablish respect for the fundamental human rights, “some governments have tried to find new ways to run around their obligations”, including the UK.
As for the USA, Amnesty notes that despite opposition from president Bush, “Congress has reiterated the ban on torture and other maltreatments” though it has also strongly limited the right for Guantanamo detainees to obtain a judicial revision of their cases. Finally, Amnesty warns about the risks of using a “double talk an standards” by the great powers, which weakens the international community’s ability to face serious crises of human rights such as Darfur, Chechnya, Colombia, Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and North
Korea.
(From MISNA)