US must seize back world human rights leadership: report

US must seize back world human rights leadership: report
by Stephanie Griffith
Wed Jan 14, 12:07 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Barack Obama must seize back the US leadership in global human rights squandered by outgoing President George Bush in Guantanamo Bay and other scandals, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday.

In a 564-page report on the state of human rights around the world, the US-based watchdog said governments opposing basic rights, including those in Russia and China, had rushed to fill a vacuum left by the United States.

HRW blamed Bush's abandonment of long-held principles, including opposition to torture, in the US war against Islamist militants, but said Obama could repair the damage once he takes office on January 20.

"There is an enormous need for the Obama administration to redeem America's reputation," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW, at a Washington press conference.

"The United States under Bush has gone from a government that was often at the forefront of promoting human rights to one that is the prominent violator of human rights," Roth said.

"In our view, president-elect Obama should do, broadly speaking, two things to redeem America's reputation: first, end the abuses of the Bush era, and second, officially and definitively repudiate them."

Scandals during the Bush era -- detention without trial in Guantanamo Bay, shocking revelations of abuse at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, and the snatching of terrorism suspects around the world -- have lost Washington the moral high ground, the report said.

"President Bush's decision to fight terrorism through such abuses as torture, disappearances and detention without trial in secret CIA detention facilities is not only illegal but counter-productive," he added.

"It has been a lifeblood for terrorist recruiters and it has discouraged the kind of international cooperation that is absolutely essential" to combat terrorism, he said.

Obama campaigned on promises of a fresh approach to US security and is reportedly preparing to announce a shut down of the ultra-secretive prison at Guantanamo Bay immediately after his inauguration next week.

But HRW warned the initiative has meanwhile passed to governments actively working to dismantle human rights.

"Today the most energetic diplomacy on human rights comes from such places as Algiers, Cairo and Islamabad, with backing from Beijing and Moscow," Roth wrote in an introductory essay to the report.

"The force of China's authoritarian example and the oil-fueled muscle of Russia have made it easier to reject human rights principles," while pro-human rights governments "have largely abandoned the field."

The annual report, which covers 90 countries, highlights suffering of civilians in conflicts across the globe, including in Afghanistan, Georgia, Israel and Sri Lanka.

Countries singled for political repression include, China, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe, while Britain, France and the United States are criticized for abuses during anti-terrorism operations.

HRW said opponents of human rights had notched up numerous victories.

UN scrutiny of repression in Uzbekistan, Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo has been diluted, as has criticism of the military government in Myanmar, HRW said.

South Africa was highlighted for failing human rights by insufficient action in neighboring Zimbabwe, Egypt for "encouraging lessened scrutiny" of Darfur, and China for ignoring repression in Myanmar.

The European Union, HRW said, responded "admirably" in defusing the crisis that followed Russia's war with Georgia last summer, and also in sending monitors to Chad.

But deal-making between the 27 EU countries, some of which are weaker defenders of human rights than others, cripple the bloc's ability to act as a serious international force on the matter, HRW said.

On a positive note, HRW praised a host of smaller and middle-sized powers for backing human rights initiatives.

In Latin America these are Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Uruguay, HRW said, while in Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Liberia, and Zambia stand out.

Japan and South Korea are seen as "sympathetic" but "reluctant to take strong public positions" in Asia.

However, "without the firm and consistent backing of the major Western democracies, these important voices are rarely able to mount on their own a major international diplomatic effort to address serious human rights abuses," HRW said.