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West's 'terror deceptions' rapped
Governments have sacrificed principles and ignored human rights in the name of the "war on terror", says a leading rights group in its annual report.
But Amnesty International celebrates what it calls a "wake-up call" issued to governments over the last year.
It says their "doublespeak and deception have been exposed by the media, challenged by activists and rejected by the courts".
The report highlights crises which it says have been ignored in this climate.
The annual report, totalling some 300 pages, contains detailed country-by-country assessments of human rights violations and advances.
It singles out some regional and national issues as particular areas of concern, including:
- "Intermittent attention and feeble action" on the part of the UN and African Union to tackle atrocities and find a political solution in Darfur, Sudan
- Rising number of attacks by armed groups in India, Iraq, Jordan and the UK, which the report says are "inexcusable and unacceptable"
- Israel's continued expansion of settlements and the construction of the security barrier in the West Bank
- "Critical levels" of human rights violations by all parties in the Colombia conflict
- The "hypocrisy" of G8 nations, who espouse eradication of poverty in Africa while continuing to be major suppliers of arms to African nations
- Human rights abuses under the mantle of "counter-terrorism" policies in Uzbekistan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya and other African countries
But the report's foreword, written by Amnesty International's Secretary-General Irene Khan, reserves much criticism for Western governments, which she says have "paralysed international institutions and squandered public resources in pursuit of narrow security interests".
"Governments profess to champion the cause of human rights but show repressive reflexes when it comes to their own policies and performance," says the report.
full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5005754.stm
