Amnesty international sees globalization as new foe

Social justice news
June 2001

Amnesty International sees globalization as new human rights foe
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Amnesty International sees
globalization as new human rights foe

The phenomenon of economic and political integration loosely defined under the heading "globalization" is affecting every nation and bringing poverty to the forefront of the human rights agenda, Amnesty International (AI) said as it released its annual human rights report. "Globalization—the spread of the free market economy and technological change—has led to enormous economic expansion, but has been accompanied by debt, poverty and widening inequalities," the organization said. AI reports that its new challenge is finding a way to hold states accountable for their conduct in the face of globalization.

The 2001 human rights report was especially critical of the United States, notings its continuing use of capital punishment and ongoing problems with police brutality and conditions within the U.S. criminal justice system "The U.S.A. again showed no qualms in countering the world trend towards abolition of the death penalty, carrying out 85 executions. In flagrant breach of international standards, this figure includes people who were under 18 at the time of the crime, others who were mentally impaired and foreign nationals who had their consular rights denied."

The picture that emerges from AI's annual report is one of a world where the perpetrators of human rights violations in at least 149 countries are not confined to government officials and state agents. They are often family or community members or employers against whom governments fail to take action. Human rights abuses are also committed on a daily basis by armed opposition and paramilitary groups.

The annual report documents extrajudicial executions in 61 countries; judicial executions in 28 countries; prisoners of conscience in at least 63 countries; cases of torture and ill-treatment in 125 countries, and "disappearances" in 30 countries. However, AI believes that the true figures for all these statistics are much higher.

"Governments have adopted the rhetoric of human rights, but few have delivered this as a reality," AI said. "There is much that governments can and should do: They can ensure that workers are protected from the worst forms of exploitation; they can combat impunity which is the poison that allows human rights violations to spread, to recur or to re-emerge; they can stop attacking human rights activists; they can, and must, live up to their human rights obligations."

Many states have made what AI characterizes as a "disingenuous" claim—that they have been forced by gloabalization to adopt economic policies which undermine social, economic, and cultural rights. AI argues that governments do retain the power to defend their people against the arbitrary actions of multinational corporations or the pressures of intergovernmental financial institutions.

According to an AI press release: "The challenge for AI today remains above all to hold states accountable. Reentering the debate to focus on the powers and obligations of governments does not mean ignoring the responsibilities of others. It does mean insisting that states have to confront their cowardice, their cover-ups and their efforts to shirk their responsibilities. It does mean stressing that they have the power, despite external constraints, to deliver on human rights if they have the political will."

"Economic insecurity has stoked internal conflicts that nation states have proved unable to resolve or contain. But that does not mean that economic instability is an excuse for governments to escape from their responsibilities."

Last year, AI vigorously lobbied the international diamond manufacturing and trading communities to take effective measures to prevent conflict diamonds from Sierra Leone from reaching international markets. AI activists campaigned before jewelry stores in the United States and engaged in discussions with Hoge Raad voor Diamant of Antwerp, as well as the DeBeers group. The organization also publicly called upon oil companies active in Sudan to raise human rights concerns with the Sudanese authorities, and to take measures to protect human rights in their sphere of operations.

Amnesty International has also revealed that the international trade in high voltage electroshock batons, shields, stun guns, and stun belts has been expanding throughout the 1990s. In the last two years, over 150 companies operating in 22 countries have been making or marketing electroshock weapons. The organization has called for a ban on the use of police and security equipment whose use is inherently cruel, inhuman, or degrading.

The potential conflict between the pursuit of profit and the protection of human rights has led AI to communicate its concerns with the international financial institutions, like the World Bank, which is in a position to exert great influence over national economic and political agendas. AI says it will continue to press for real change, so that human rights are given proper consideration in all the Bank's work.

The indivisible links between socioeconomic and political rights have been mirrored in the emergence of a new network of protest movements. A global solidarity movement is forming out of the negative consequences of globalization. AI offers its unique experience to this endeavor to bring human rights protection and justice to the majority of peoples in the world today.

An AI statement read: "The forces against human rights may be formidable, but the outrage at injustice that led to the founding of Amnesty International 40 years ago continues to motivate millions of people to tackle governments with a determination to build a better world: utopia may not be within reach, but positive change is."

View the Amnesty International Report 2001

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