HUMAN RIGHTS-LATAM:
US Report Draws Fire from the South
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, Mar 1 (IPS) - Amnesty International (AI) has joined with
numerous governments in Latin America in criticising the latest human rights
report released by the U.S. State Department, calling it "politically
biased" and accusing Washington of "exploiting" the reports compiled by
human rights groups for its own purposes.
"It doesn't please Amnesty International to have Washington using our
reports" to pass judgement on other countries and politicise the issue of
human rights, Carlos Mario Gómez, director of the Mexican branch of the
London-based human rights organisation, told IPS Tuesday.
The State Department's latest annual report on human rights, released
Monday, contains profiles of close to 200 countries, based on information
gathered from non-governmental groups, media reports and diplomatic sources.
As usual, with regard to Latin America, the report was especially harsh on
countries viewed with disfavour by Washington, like Cuba and Venezuela, but
took a soft stance towards civil war-torn Colombia, "quite possibly the
country with the worst human rights crisis in the region today," said Gómez.
In Venezuela, where the George W. Bush administration claims that "the
government's human rights record remained poor" in 2004, Vice President José
Vicente Rangel described the report as completely lacking in validity and
criticised the U.S. government for using the theme of human rights for
"blatantly political ends."
"This State Department report is more of the same - in other words, more
lies, more falsehoods, and more hypocrisy, and as such it is absolutely
worthless," he stated.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who has accused the U.S. government of
plotting to assassinate him, is leading what he calls a "peaceful
revolution" of political and social changes that he has openly described as
"anti-imperialist".
Nevertheless, Gómez maintained that although the State Department report is
"politically biased", it also provides a relatively accurate portrait of the
situation in countries whose governments "don't like being reminded of their
human rights problems."
The country reports have been criticised by governments and lawmakers in
Honduras, Chile and Mexico, nations singled out by Washington for various
human rights issues.
Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez claimed that the State Department
document was based on reports gathered from human rights groups that
essentially operate as businesses and are only interested "in continuing to
receive funding from governments or private sector agencies in the United
States and Europe," which renders it completely invalid.
Washington maintains that extrajudicial executions are periodically carried
out by security forces in the countries of Central America, including
Honduras.
For Jaime Naranjo, president of the Chilean Congressional Committee on Human
Rights, "the United States has no moral authority to dictate human rights
standards to the rest of the world, and the things it is highlighting are
nothing new."
Washington's opinion "is of limited importance and is highly relative,
because we know that when it comes to imposing things by force, the United
States ignores or forgets that human rights even exist, and pays no
attention whatsoever to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," he
added.
The annual report, which does not address the issue of human rights in the
United States itself, also overlooks the grave reports of mistreatment and
torture of prisoners that have come out of Iraq, which was invaded by a
U.S.-led coalition in March 2003.
The report says the situation in Chile is troubling because of an alleged
deterioration of prison conditions and upsurge in domestic violence.
Mexico also voiced displeasure with the State Department document.
The government of President Vicente Fox "does not accept or recognise the
validity of the report issued by the United States on human rights, because
it is biased and unilateral," stated Deputy Foreign Minister for Global
Affairs and Human Rights Patricia Olamendi.
Mexico, accused by the U.S. State Department of "serious problems" with
violence in the northern states along the two countries' shared border, only
recognises reports issued by regional and international mechanisms of which
it forms part, such as the Organisation of American States and the United
Nations, Olamendi added.
The AI representative in Mexico said the State Department country reports
continue to lose validity with every passing year, because "the United
States doesn't exactly have the best human rights record in the world, so it
can't really judge what happens in other places."
In fact, Gómez added, "it is perhaps the country that is most seriously
undermining the international system of human rights protection."
The U.S. Human Rights Network, a coalition of more than 160 non-governmental
groups, fully concurred with this view, stating in a press release, "It is
the height of hypocrisy for the .U.S government to issue a report condemning
human rights abuses in other countries at a time when it is violating these
very same standards at home and abroad."
The Network and AI recalled that the United States is holding alleged
terrorists at its naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, without laying charges
or allowing them an adequate defence. It also refuses to recognise the
international instruments under which the war crimes committed by its
soldiers could be judged.
(END/2005)
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