The Wire

Amnesty Annual Report Developed countries are encouraging human rights abuses elsewhere by dismissing their own. Amnesty International has issued its annual report card on human rights and has criticised the way the Western world plays down their own abuses. The Amnesty report focuses heavily on the United States for failing to allow independent investigation of their prisons in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq. Echoing the themes of the report US President George W. Bush dismissed the criticisms as absurd saying his country remained a champion of the human rights struggle. According to Amnesty the US is not alone in violating human rights, another major target of the report is the United Nations, which is criticised for allowing the political will of individual Security Council members prevent intervention in the humanitarian crisis of Sudan. Also highlighted are the themes that allow countries to crackdown on human rights. One justification has been the war on terror. Michael Atkin spoke to Dr Ben Saul, specialist in public international law at University of NSW about the report.