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 Amnesty International's (AI) Report 2008 , released on Wednesday 28 May, shows that sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, human rights abuses are still widespread. The report criticised the USA, as the global superpower, for failing to set a good example of human rights protection to the rest of the world.
In addition to the continued detention of prisoners without trial at Guantanamo Bay, AI condemned the US' domestic human rights record: "Soldiers refusing to serve in Iraq on grounds of conscience were imprisoned. Prisoners continued to experience ill-treatment at the hands of police officers and prison guards. Dozens of people died after police used tasers (electro-shock weapons) against them." The report also calls on the EU investigate the "complicity of its member states in ‘renditions' of terrorist suspects" and to "set the same bar on human rights for its own members as it does for other countries." The NGO's Secretary-General Irene Khan commented: "What we would like governments to do is get out of the state of denial. An apology is a means of getting out of the state of denial. They should then recommit themselves to take action to correct [their past actions]". The report is also strongly critical of human rights abuses by Russia and China, and identifies "human rights flashpoints" in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar which "demand immediate action". Sources: |
