Opinion - News Analysis   

"India must speak up on human rights and rule of law"

Irene Khan

The Secretary General of Amnesty International criticises the Bush administration's "war on terror" and urges New Delhi to be a fearless, principled international player.

"I'm in a cage like an animal. No one's asked me if I am human or not."

"They punched me, they kicked me, once to my chin. Another time I was told to lie down and they picked me up by my neck so I was half-strangled and they said `we are going to kill you unless you confess what you did'."

FICTION? NIGHTMARE? Tale from the medieval ages? Testimony from a prisoner in an authoritarian state? No, these are the words of former detainees from Bagram and Guantanamo Bay.

They are just two people from among the thousands who have been detained by the U.S., or by others at the behest of the U.S. administration. They are held indefinitely, without charge or trial, in known and unknown locations around the world, with no contact with family, friends, and in most cases, lawyers, in conditions and circumstances that violate basic principles of both international human rights law and U.S. law.

Many governments across the world — democracies and dictatorships, western, Arab or Asian — have colluded and continue to collude with the U.S. in these flagrant human rights violations. Information has come to light of European and other airports being used by the U.S. to transport prisoners to and from countries where they were subjected to torture. The Council of Europe is investigating these allegations as well as reports about secret locations in Eastern Europe — described as "CIA black sites", or in the words of the Washington Post, "Soviet-style detention centres" — where people have been reportedly detained by or at the request of the U.S. authorities.

Last year Amnesty International interviewed three Yemeni nationals who claim to have been abducted, two from Jordan and one from Tanzania, detained, moved around several secret locations in different countries for two years, interrogated by U.S. officials, tortured and then handed over to Yemeni authorities. Last November I met Mehr Arar, a Canadian citizen who was intercepted by U.S. immigration and sent to Syria, where he was tortured. The Canadian Government is investigating claims that Canadian officials may have played a part in his abduction and interrogation.

Following the publication of photographs of outrageous abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison, evidence of torture and other ill treatment by U.S. military and other personnel continues to mount. Yet, to date, not a single U.S. agent or official has been charged under the U.S.' Anti Torture Act or War Crimes Act, nor any senior official investigated, despite torture allegations and deaths of detainees in U.S. custody in Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead, every effort has been made by the U.S. administration to challenge judicial scrutiny and avoid congressional oversight.

"War against terrorism ushers in a new paradigm which requires new thinking in the law of war," said President George W. Bush shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Unfortunately, the new thinking has led to a lot of old fashioned abuses: torture and ill treatment; denial of habeas corpus; arbitrary and secret detention; "disappearances" and unlawful killings; unfair trial and the use of secret evidence.

New terminology touted by the U.S. administration — "stress and duress" (torture and ill treatment), "extraordinary renditions" (handing over suspects to other regimes to be tortured), "ghost detainees" (holding unregistered prisoners in secret locations) — cannot make respectable that which is reprehensible.

Nor should the dangerous export value of the "war on terror" be under-estimated. Not only has the moral authority of the U.S. on human rights been weakened, its policies and practices on counter-terrorism have been interpreted as a license for repression by some regimes. From Egypt to Uzbekistan, China to Chechnya, governments have clamped down on political opponents and ethnic and religious minorities in the name of counter-terrorism. The King of Nepal sought to justify his declaration of the state of emergency and crack down on political opponents last year as his contribution to tackling terrorism!

The U.S. President will visit India in early March. When the leader of the world's most powerful democracy meets the leader of the world's largest democracy, issues of regional and international security will be high on their agenda. But they would do well to ponder on the global impact of the U.S.-led War on Terror, because respect for the rule of law and human rights are not just essential attributes of modern democracy but also critical preconditions for building a safer, fairer world.

The Indian Government has had its own share of security problems. Indeed, across South Asia violence by both armed groups and security forces has taken a toll in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, parts of northeast India, and Jammu and Kashmir. If there is one lesson to be learnt it is that abuses of executive and police power, draconian laws and the failure to investigate and prosecute only feed grievances and lead to more violence. They do not make us secure. Human rights are not an obstacle to counter-terrorism but the antidote to terror. Our collective security depends on respect for human rights and the rule of law.

When the world's most powerful government shows contempt for international law and human rights, it teaches others to do the same. When it seeks to put itself above the rule of international law, when it ignores and undermines multilateral institutions — whether the United Nations or the International Criminal Court — it sends a dangerous message to all governments that they too can ignore international law and institutions at will. This is a particularly dangerous message at a time when the international community is struggling to resolve its dispute with Iran and find peace in the Middle East.

The recent publication of the Danish cartoons and the eruption of violence in many Islamic countries have demonstrated the deep and dangerous divisions that the "war on terror" has engendered. Discrimination and polarisation along religious and ethnic lines are a serious threat to security — as India well knows from its own challenges of managing diverse religious, ethnic, and linguistic groups within its borders. It is almost four years since more than 2,000 people were killed in Gujarat in communal violence; the majority of the victims are still awaiting justice.

Confidence among communities is best built through respect of all human rights by all. Human rights embody common values of human decency and dignity, equality and justice. As such they are the basis of our common security and humanity. That is an important message that the U.S. Government must hear from the elected representatives of one-sixth of humanity.

Also, for most of that one-sixth of humanity, poverty, disease, unemployment, gender discrimination, and gun violence are a greater source of daily insecurity than terrorism. This is not to underplay the risk of terrorist attacks, particularly given the tragic bomb blasts in Delhi, Bangalore, and elsewhere, but to underline the need for the United States to broaden its security agenda to include economic and social development. The vast majority of the world's population must also feel that it has a stake in global security.

Mr. Bush's visit will be a test of India's willingness to be a fearless, principled international player, as well as a good friend of the U.S. The growing friendship between the U.S. and India is an important development in international relations. But good friends do not just tell each other niceties, they also speak hard truths. Indeed, their very friendship makes it possible to be honest and forthright.

Silence is not an option. India must speak out clearly and firmly on the international stage about the principles of human rights and rule of law, which make this country a great democracy.

(The writer is Secretary General of Amnesty International.)

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Storm clouds over budget session
Going beyond the curriculum
Washington's ever-shifting goalpost
"India must speak up on human rights and rule of law"
America's plan is to force GM food on the world
Divisive move
Fighting leprosy
Stirring moment
For a rupee
On Valentine's Day

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu