RIGHTS: Amnesty International Calls for Protection for Activists

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Mar 18 2000 (IPS) - During this year’s United Nations Human Rights Commission sessions, Amnesty International’s efforts will focus on the need for stepping up protection for activists who risk their lives fighting for the rights and welfare of the most vulnerable sectors of society.

The international watchdog and other human rights groups are calling on the UN commission to name a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders during its Mar 20 to Apr 28 sessions.

“Last year we were told that the time was not ripe because the Commission had to review its system of rapporteurs, experts and working groups,” said Stephanie Farrior, Director of Amnesty International’s Legal and International Organisations Programme.

“But it is time the creation of a Special Rapporteur’s post stopped being held hostage to this review process,” she maintained.

The new rapporteur’s duties would consist of observing and documenting the situation of activists and in intervening when the rights of lawyers, reporters, students and other activists – frequently the targets of threats, intimidation and even murder – are violated.

The London-based rights group urged the commission to put human rights advocates at the top of its agenda, and complained that on too many occasions, the 53-state commission failed to act resolutely, giving priority to political compromise over human rights.

Amnesty representative in Geneva Isabelle Scherer complained that in terms of human rights, there were some “untouchable” countries, like Saudi Arabia, China and Turkey.

“The Commission should speak out on the human rights situation in China and other countries such as Saudi Arabia which have appalling human rights records. In the interest of realpolitik the international community has remained silent for far too long, but no country should be seen as ‘untouchable’ by the Commission,” Farrior added.

Besides Saudi Arabia and China, Amnesty’s concern about systematic human rights violations focuses on Russia’s actions in Chechnya, as well as Mexico, the case of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Sierra Leone.

Russian forces waged war in Chechnya in a merciless manner, in violation of international humanitarian law, said Amnesty.

“The Russian Government’s claim that it is ‘fighting crime and terrorism’ is no justification for violating human rights,” said Farrior, who will head the Amnesty delegation during next week’s session of the UN Human Rights Commission.

And in Mexico, the human rights situation could become critical if authorities fail to take steps to guarantee the protection of human rights at all levels of society, warned the Amnesty official, who said torture, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions and disappearances persisted in that Latin American country.

The fact that such abuses are committed with impunity only encourages further violations, she pointed out.

Among the victims of those abuses are members of opposition political parties, peasant farmers, indigenous people and poor residents of urban areas, as well as human rights advocates and activists from a range of non-governmental organisations.

Amnesty called on the commision to approve a resolution expressing concern over violations in Mexico, and to issue a call to the government of that country to ensure that those guilty of human rights abuses would be held accountable by an independent, effective justice system.

The watchdog also stressed that in China, the crackdown on peaceful dissidence was becoming more and more harsh, pointing out that more people are executed in China each year than in all other countries combined.

The commission should urge the Chinese government to put an end to those executions, and immediately release all people imprisoned for expressing their convictions, said Amnesty.

Stability in Kosovo continues to be threatened by murders based on ethnic origin, unresolved disappearances and a general lack of security, reported Amnesty, which berated the international community for failing to provide funds for creating a civilian police force and a new judiciary.

In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, secrecy and fear impregnate the entire structure of the State, and those who dare to criticise the system are harshly punished, said the rights group.

While executions and torture, along with amputations and whippings, take place in that country, the United Nations has never publicly scrutinised the human rights situation there, Amnesty pointed out.

Members of the former rebel forces of Sierra Leone, now in power, have continued to carry out arbitrary executions, deliberate assassinations, and the rape and abductions of civilians, the group also denounced.