War on human rights? Yes, says Amnesty International

Social justice news
June 2003

CAFOD calls on G8 to live up to anti-poverty commitments
Poll finds hunger gnaws on public concience
Putting a cross-country brake on poverty
USCCB: 'Flawed' border policy contributes to migrant deaths
War on human rights? Yes, says Amnesty International

War on human rights? Yes, says Amnesty International
The U.S.-led war on terror has made the world a more dangerous and repressive place, Amnesty International charges in a report the Bush administration dismissed as "without merit."

The international human rights organization singled out the United States and Britain for detaining terror suspects without trial under legislation introduced after the September. 11 attacks. It also accused other countries, including the Philippines and China, of using security legislation to crack down on political opposition.

Irene Khan, Amnesty International's secretary general, released the annual report in London on May 28.

"The 'war on terror,' far from making the world a safer place, has made it more dangerous by curtailing human rights, undermining the rule of international law and shielding governments from scrutiny," Khan said.

"The great supporters of human rights during the Cold War now quite readily either roll them back in their own countries or encourage others to do so and turn a blind eye. What would have been unacceptable on September 10, 2001, is now becoming almost the norm," she said.

The report said most of the 1,200 foreign nationals, mostly Muslim men of Arab or South Asian origin, detained in the United States during inquiries into the September 11 attacks were either deported, released or charged with crimes unrelated to terrorism by the end of 2002.

In Britain, the 11 foreign nationals still in custody at year's end were either asylum seekers or recognized refugees, the report said.

While the overthrow of Saddam Hussein has brought greater freedom for the Iraqi people, the politics and distraction of the war in Iraq have had unintended, negative consequences for millions of people worldwide, AI charged.

"Regardless of how much greater liberty Iraqis may eventually realize, the Bush Administration's war in Iraq has contributed to diminishing human rights for millions of others worldwide," said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "While billions were spent to dethrone Saddam Hussein, dictators and rebels elsewhere wreaked havoc on millions of people across the globe with little attention and even less condemnation from the US government or the international community."

Amnesty said the detention by the United States of 600 foreign nationals at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba was a "human rights scandal" and called on America to release or charge those imprisoned there. Spokesman Rob Freer said Amnesty has repeatedly requested access to Guantanamo, as recently as last week, but received no reply.

"Children are among them, the elderly are among them and undoubtedly there are people who were picked up for being at the wrong place at the wrong time," Freer said.

A Bush administration spokesperson said the AI report was "without merit."

"The prisoners in Guantanamo are being treated humanely. They're receiving medical care. They're receiving food. They're receiving far better treatment than they received in the life that they were living previously."

Khan said that while the world's attention concentrated on Iraq, there was a "heavy toll on human rights and human lives" in places including Ivory Coast, Colombia, Burundi, Chechnya and Nepal, she said.

"Iraq and Israel and the occupied territories are in the news; Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not, despite the imminent threat of genocide," Khan said. "Drawing attention to `hidden' crises, protecting the rights of the `forgotten victims' is the biggest challenge we face today."

Amnesty said that while the human rights situation in Israel and the Palestinian areas occupied by Israeli soldiers was often talked about, it was the "least acted upon by the international community."

Amnesty also said a lack of security in Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition victory posed a threat to human rights and development. "There is a real risk that Iraq will go the way of Afghanistan if no genuine effort is made to heed the call of the Iraqi people for law and order and full respect of human rights," she said. The organization said that more than 18 months after the war in Afghanistan, millions of Afghans face an uncertain and insecure future.

At the same time, American representatives of AI lauded a recent Department of Justice internal audit. In a major scandal for the Bush Administration, the Justice Department's internal oversight unit released a report highly critical of what it shows to be the wholesale and long-term preventive detention of immigrants swept up in the months following 9/11.

According to the report, many immigrants who had no connection to the terrorist attacks of September 11 languished in federal lock-up for months at a time under an official "no bond policy" that actively opposed their release. The INS complained that the FBI had given them no evidence to justify their continued detention, yet some immigrants still spent up to eight months waiting for release.

The Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) report on the treatment of post-9.11 detainee "is an important step in exposing the injustices that hundreds of men, detained on minor immigration violations, have suffered at the hands of the US government," an AI official said.

"The OIG should be applauded for releasing a report that isn't just a whitewash of the government's actions," said Schulz. "In these times, merely speaking out against the US government can be seen as a breach of patriotism. In this case the government's own internal investigatory body found that the US government deprived these men of their rights. The OIG has shown that democracy and the principles of our founding fathers can still work in a nation intensely focused on national security."

The OIG findings on the handling of the detainees mirrored much of what Amnesty International and other human and civil rights organizations had documented since the mass detentions began. Among the many issues the OIG addressed were the considerable problems with how the FBI arrested, charged and assigned these men to detention facilities; patterns of physical and verbal abuse at New York's Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC); restrictive and inconsistent policies regarding access to legal counsel; and detentions of some men even after final deportation papers had been issued.

Despite the important findings released in the report, AIUSA remains concerned about the level of secrecy surrounding the detentions and the resulting difficulties for watchdog organizations to ensure that the rights of detainees are respected. The organization continues to seek the reasons for the Department of Justice's (DOJ) failure to release public information concerning the arrests, and clarification of the true number of those detained in the sweeps. The report fails to explain the discrepancy between the the OIG's examination of 764 detained men, and the Justice Department's previously reported round-up of approximately 1,200 detainees.

"After September 11, hundreds of Muslim and Arab men were denied attorneys, contact with their families, even daylight in the name of national security—and in the end, not one was charged with anything related to the attacks on the United States themselves," Schulz said. "This chapter in our history forever will be tainted with racist overtones and the suppression of rights. Although the OIG report gives a clear picture of the abominable treatment these men endured, it does not lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the number and identities of individual detainees. We call for an investigation that thoroughly addresses all issues surrounding the alleged abuse and for strong action to be taken to hold accountable those responsible for, or turning a blind eye to, abuses."

For more:
Amnesty International's Annual Report on Human Rights 2003

Back to page top