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Amnesty International slams West over human rights

LONDON: Amnesty International slammed western governments over their record on human rights, singling out America’s Guantanamo Bay detention camp as an example of how human rights are being abused in the name of fighting terror.

In a report, launched here on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, Amnesty demanded immediate closure of the Guantanamo Bay and other “secret” detention centres.

“The U.S. must close Guantánamo detention camp and secret detention centres, prosecute the detainees under fair trial standards or release them, and unequivocally reject the use of torture and ill-treatment,” it said. The report also called for the E.U. to investigate the “complicity” of its member-States in the C.I.A.’s secret operation involving “rendering” of alleged terror suspects to third countries where they could be tortured. It said the E.U. must set the same bar on human rights for its own members as it does for other countries.

“World leaders are in a state of denial but their failure to act has a high cost. As Iraq and Afghanistan show, human rights problems are not isolated tragedies, but are like viruses that can infect and spread rapidly, endangering all of us,” said Amnesty’s Secretary-General Irene Khan.

Arguing that the “most powerful must lead by example,” she said: “Governments today must show the same degree of vision, courage and commitment that led the U.N. to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60 years ago.”

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