Amnesty’s annual report rebukes governments, armed groups 

by Chris Herlinger
Ecumenical News International

NEW YORK — In a report that strongly rebukes governments and armed groups alike, Amnesty International said the past year produced “the most sustained attack on human rights and international humanitarian law in 50 years.” 

   The international human rights advocacy group said in its yearly report released on May 26 in London and in Washington that a “war on global values” was destroying the human rights of ordinary people and leading to a “world of growing mistrust, fear and Division.” While the report was not a formal examination of abuses committed on religious grounds, it appraised abuses committed in the name of values and religious ideologies. 

      Al Qa’ida, for example, poses a “very real threat to the security of people everywhere.” Terrorist attacks such as the one earlier this year in Madrid, Spain, amounted “to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s secretary general. 

      Amnesty also detailed allegations of violations of religious freedoms in many countries. In the former Soviet republic of Georgia, for example, the report said religious minorities “continued to face harassment, intimidation and violent attacks by supporters of the Georgian Orthodox Church.” 

      Members of unregistered religious groups in Turkmenistan, another former Soviet state, also faced harassment, Amnesty reported, and the only two registered religious communities — the Russian Orthodox Church and Sunni Islam — remained under strict state control. 

      In Pakistan, the country’s blasphemy law continued to be abused to imprison people on grounds of religious belief, contributing to a climate in which religiously motivated violence flourished, the human rights organization noted. 

      Secretary-general Khan also faulted the United States and other governments for a “war on terror” that she said was undermining and marginalizing the “principles of international law and the tools of multilateral action which could protect us from these Attacks.”

      “Governments are losing their moral compass, sacrificing the global values of human rights in a blind pursuit of security,” she said. “This failure of leadership is a dangerous concession to armed groups.” 

       “The global security agenda promoted by the U.S. Administration is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle,” she noted.

      “Violating rights at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad and using pre-emptive military force where and when it chooses has damaged justice and freedom, and made the world a more dangerous place.”  

      The administration of President George W. Bush defended itself against Amnesty’s criticisms, with U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher calling Irene Khan’s comments a “sound bite” and saying the rule of law was a cornerstone of the U.S.-led “war on terror.” He also said the U.S. president had outlined a “very clear vision defending civilization and society from people who want only destruction.” 

      The Amnesty report is available at www.amnesty.org.