West's 'terror deceptions' rapped

[acmejack]

Governments have sacrificed principles and ignored human rights in the name of the "war on terror", says a leading rights group in its annual report.

But Amnesty International celebrates what it calls a "wake-up call" issued to governments over the last year.

It says their "doublespeak and deception have been exposed by the media, challenged by activists and rejected by the courts".
snip
It singles out some regional and national issues as particular areas of concern, including:

"Intermittent attention and feeble action" on the part of the UN and African Union to tackle atrocities and find a political solution in Darfur, Sudan
Rising number of attacks by armed groups in India, Iraq, Jordan and the UK, which the report says are "inexcusable and unacceptable"
Israel's continued expansion of settlements and the construction of the security barrier in the West Bank
"Critical levels" of human rights violations by all parties in the Colombia conflict
The "hypocrisy" of G8 nations, who espouse eradication of poverty in Africa while continuing to be major suppliers of arms to African nations
Human rights abuses under the mantle of "counter-terrorism" policies in Uzbekistan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya and other African countries"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5005754.stm

edit for link, no coffee yet!

[Scurrilous]

1. Amnesty attacks US 'disappearances'

<snip>

"The United States' reported use of secret CIA-run prisons for terrorism suspects amounts to a policy of "disappearances", human rights watchdog Amnesty International said today in its annual report.

In a sometimes scathing assessment of Washington's rights record, the London-based group also raised serious concerns about detainees held without trial in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Washington had failed to bring to account those potentially guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity, it added.

Britain also faced condemnation, with Amnesty saying the government had "continued to erode fundamental human rights" through new anti-terrorism laws and the possible use of evidence obtained through the torture of suspects in other countries.

The 238-page report for 2005 carries a lengthy catalogue of abuses in dozens of countries, with some of the most-criticised including China, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Russia."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1781260,00.html