January 12, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 21, 1427

NEW YORK, Jan 11: The Human Rights Watch painted a grim picture of rights abuses around the world in its annual report on Thursday, urging Europe to play a stronger role in the absence of “credible leadership” from the United States.

In a report on over 75 countries, the New York-based watchdog singled out the United States, European Union, Russia and China for not doing enough to defend fundamental rights.

“Every government these days seems to have a ready excuse for ignoring human rights,” group’s director Kenneth Roth said in the 556-page report.

“Washington’s potentially powerful voice no longer resonates after the US government’s use of detention without trial and interrogation by torture,” it said.

“The trend is bleak, but not irreversible,” added the report, released to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the first “enemy combatants” arriving at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The report accused the United States of practicing arbitrary detention, torture and disappearances in its “war on terror”. “These abuses committed in the name of counter-terrorism have only aggravated the terrorist threat. The use of torture and arbitrary detention spurs terrorist recruitment in communities that identify with the victims.” Iraq, it added, “has degenerated into massive sectarian blood-letting, with civilians the principal victims.” It urged the European Union to do more to take a leading role as a champion of human rights, saying that the bloc was currently “punching well below its weight” as it struggled to find consensus among its now 27 member states.

“Since the US can’t provide credible leadership on human rights, European countries must pick up the slack,” Roth said.

“If the EU never acts beyond the wishes of its most reluctant member, it will most often end up doing little or nothing. The EU’s credibility as a principled promoter of human rights is at stake.” The report said that within the boundaries of the EU, it was particularly disappointed by the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers.

The report also accused the 27-member bloc of pandering to emerging business partners, notably China.

The increased economic strength of Russia and China made it easier for them to shake off criticism of their rights record and in turn to be less critical of countries with which they were engaging in energy deals, the report said.

Russia’s goal, it said, “seems to be rebuilding a sphere of influence, especially among the nations of the former Soviet Union, even if that means embracing tyrants and murderers.”

“China’s position on human rights ranges from indifference to hostility. China has done far less than it should,” it added, further accusing Beijing of using arbitrary detention and abusive prison conditions to maintain power.

“It remains at best indifferent to the human rights practices” of countries such as Sudan, whose oil it imports, Zimbabwe, Angola, Uzbekistan, North Korea and Myanmar.

“The repressive governments it supports are crushing and impoverishing their people. It said change would only come “if China is called to task for its ugly actions.” It warned that Russia, “with its internal crackdown on independent voices and its dirty war in Chechnya, is going down the same perverse path.” “Like China, (President Vladimir) Putin has paid little price for dancing with dictators. Few other governments refer publicly to his misdeeds. Their occasional grumbling is barely heard over their grovelling for energy deals.” The United Nations’ new Human Rights Council, which replaced the discredited Commission on Human rights, also came in for criticism, with the report saying the council threatened the credibility of the entire UN system.

The international community had also failed to address the mass killings in the Sudanese region of Darfur, managing “little more than to produce reams of unimplemented UN resolutions”, the report said.

And while some states in Latin America, Africa, and Asia were tackling human rights issues, these were “rare glimmers of hope”. It said pariah states North Korea and Myanmar were “ruthlessly repressive governments” imposing “enormous cruelty” on their people and lamented that “closed dictatorships persist in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.” “Unless a new leader emerges in this time of diminished US credibility, the tyrants of the world will enjoy free rein.—AFP