27 May 2010
BEIRUT: A global justice gap is being made worse by power politics despite a landmark year for international justice, international rights watchdog Amnesty International said in its annual assessment of human rights worldwide.
Launching “Amnesty International Report 2010: State of the World’s Human Rights,” which documents abuses in 159 countries, the organization said that powerful governments are blocking advances in international justice by standing above the law on human rights, shielding allies from criticism and acting only when politically convenient.
“Repression and injustice are flourishing in the global justice gap, condemning millions of people to abuse, oppression and poverty,” said Claudio Cordone, interim secretary general of Amnesty International.
In the Middle East and North Africa, the organization decried patterns of governmental intolerance of criticism in Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia, and mounting repression in Iran.
Amnesty International also called on governments to ensure accountability for their own actions, fully sign up to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and ensure that crimes under international law can be prosecuted anywhere in the world. It said that states claiming global leadership, including the G20, have a particular responsibility to set an example.
“Governments must ensure that no one is above the law, and that everyone has access to justice for all human rights violations. Until governments stop subordinating justice to political self-interest, freedom from fear and freedom from want will remain elusive for most of humanity,” said Cardone
The organization insisted that the ICC’s 2009 arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes, was a landmark event demonstrating that even sitting heads of state are not above the law. However, it warned, the African Union’s refusal to cooperate, despite the nightmare of violence that has affected hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur, was a stark example of governmental failure to put justice before politics.
The UN Human Rights Council’s paralysis over Sri Lanka also stood as a testament to the international community’s failure to act when needed, the report noted.
It also argued that the recommendations of the Human Rights Council’s Goldstone report calling for accountability for the conflict in Gaza still need to be heeded by Israel and Hamas. – The Daily Star
Copyright The Daily Star 2010.
