Amnesty International: Vietnam is targeted for abusing human rights

CTV.ca News Staff

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International is blasting governments around the world for "betraying" their promise to champion human rights, while following dangerous paths that threaten the security of their citizens.

In a 308-page report released Wednesday, the London-based organization said the picture from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe looks bleak.

Amnesty singles out the United States for shirking its responsibility to set a better global example for human rights protection.

"The U.S.A., as the unrivalled political, military and economic hyper-power sets the tone for governmental behaviour worldwide," said Secretary General Irene Khan in the foreword to Amnesty's annual report.

The report calls the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay -- which holds some 540 prisoners from about 40 countries -- "the gulag of our times." Detainees were being held there, some for more than three years, without access to legal representation.

Pictures of abuse of Iraqi detainees at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison are also cited in the report. Amnesty says the photos were never adequately investigated.

"When the most powerful country in the world thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights, it grants a licence to others to commit abuse with impunity," said Khan.

But the U.S. was by no means the sole or even the worst offender. Murder, persecution, and abuse of women and children spread to the four corners of the globe, said Khan.

The report blames the war on terror in Asia for increasing state repression, adding to the woes of societies already worn down by poverty. It says people were jailed indefinitely without trial in Malaysia and in Singapore, which also has the highest per capita execution rate in the world.

China and Vietnam are accused of persecuting religious minorities. [Click here to read]

"In 2004, we saw that governments betrayed their promises and sold out their people," Si-si Liu, chairperson of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said at a news conference there.

In North Korea, people starved because of a food crisis, and radio and television sets were tuned to receive only state broadcasts.

The Australian government, meanwhile, is accused of holding people under detention without charge and restricting rights to legal representation under the guise of new counterterrorism laws.

Summaries of other rights abuses alleged by Amnesty in Asian countries:

AFGHANISTAN: Despite the country's new constitution that guarantees gender equality, women still faced widespread discrimination. Hundreds of women set fire to themselves to escape violence at home and forced marriage. Rape, forced marriage and the exchange of girls to settle disputes were frequently not treated as crimes.

INDIA: Gujarat state authorities still haven't brought to justice those responsible for violence in 2002 when hundreds of Muslims were killed by Hindu mobs.

PAKISTAN: Arbitrary arrests and detentions continued in the context of combating terrorism, and possible extrajudicial executions were reported during security operations in tribal areas.

THAILAND: More than 500 people were killed in the southern provinces where security forces are battling a Muslim insurgency. No one was brought to justice for the deaths of 78 people who suffocated in army trucks after being arrested at a demonstration.

PHILIPPINES: Summary execution of suspected Muslim rebels during military operations were carried out. Scores of suspects were reportedly tortured or ill-treated by police or the military to extract confessions on information.

EAST TIMOR: In the world's newest country, the rule of law and human rights were undermined by the weakness of key institutions, leading to unlawful arrests, long court delays and impunity for police accused of using excessive force and assaulting suspects.

With a report from The Associated Press

 

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