Politics of fear fuelling divisions -- Amnesty
By Paul Majendie
"People Power will change the face of human rights in the 21st century. Hope is very much alive" - Amnesty InternationalLONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - The politics of fear are fuelling human rights abuses and creating a dangerously divided world, Amnesty International said in a sombre assessment of man's inhumanity around the globe.
"Our world is as polarised as it was at the height of the Cold War and in many ways far more dangerous," Irene Khan, secretary-general of the human rights pressure group said in its latest annual report published on Wednesday.
She said fear has been a positive motivator for change over global warming with politicians being forced belatedly into action by the pressure of public opinion.
But she said fear was being used to erode the rights of people -- all in the name of greater security.
Pointing an accusing finger around the globe from Washington to Harare, Amnesty blamed governments for undermining human rights and feeding racism with short-sighted, fear-mongering and divisive policies.
"The politics of fear are fuelling a downward spiral of human rights abuses in which no right is sacrosanct," Khan said in the 2007 dossier from the pressure group which boasts 2.2 million members in more than 150 countries.
"The 'war on terror' and the war in Iraq, with their catalogue of human rights abuses, have created deep divisions that cast a shadow on international relations," she said.
Amnesty accused President Bush of invoking fear of terrorism to enhance his executive power. "The U.S. administration's double speak has been breathtakingly shameless," it said.
The pressure group said the Sudanese government is running rings round the United Nations over Darfur where 200,000 people have died in the conflict.
"Darfur is a bleeding wound on world conscience," it said.
Amnesty said Australian Prime Minister John Howard's government had raised a false alarm by portraying desperate asylum-seekers in leaky boats as a threat to Australia's national security.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe played on racial fears to push his own political agenda and grab land for his supporters, Amnesty said.
The human rights update makes for grim reading -- from the prosecution of writers in Turkey to the killing of left-wing activists in the Philippines and soaring violence in Brazil.
In Colombia and Cambodia, in Cuba and Uzbekistan, Amnesty said the Internet has become the new frontier in the struggle for the right to dissent.
It said increasing polarisation had strengthened the hand of extremists with Islamophobia and anti-Semitism both on the increase. Fear feeds discontent and discrimination, it said.
But after chronicling a catalogue of unremitting gloom, Amnesty did end its annual report on a positive note, arguing that human rights can be as effectively tackled as global warming if public opinion can be galvanised around the planet.
"People Power will change the face of human rights in the 21st century. Hope is very much alive," it said.
16 comments:
Hasn't AI dumped Khan yet? She's lowered the organization's credibility immensely.
Yeah, we pray that Cambodians have the courage to forge against the evil regime, CPP.
It is sad that everyone is "sdech or samdech". There are too many of them -- created confusion. We should line them up...
Who care about who's king or
queen? We only care about job,
job, job. We are sick an tire of
nonsense.
Jobs, jobs.. Your act of pretending is too obvious.
OK, that fair. Of what school of management did ah Hun Sen goes to for him to suggest cutting wages from the current garment laborers in order to create more jobs? This is a blatent idiot ruler who gotten the degrees by Purchasing it or receiving it as a Gift!
He's in power for 30 years. And he's still can't tell the different between a half empty glass or a half full!
There are too many officials in the assembly that are doing nothing, but getting pay. Too much wastful spending and unaccountable funds, tax evasion, etc. This sums it up to 1/2 billion USD. Come on ah Hun! If you really want to help Khmers, you need to open up & be accountable. With the am't of money loss, you can produce skill workers by funding the Technical & vocational Schools.
There are so much hope for Khmers if we used the money proactively...
"People Power will change the face of human rights in the 21st century. Hope is very much alive," said Amnesty International.
People Power has been proven unstoppable everywhere. Why the SRP has not initiated People Power in Cambodia in lieu of initiating an Alliance of Democrats? There is no need for such an alliance whilst hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of Cambodian farmers have their lands robbed by government officials? Nowadays, where can you find a more repressive regime than the Hun Sen government? When can you find a more opportune moment for People Power rhan right now? Opportunity doesn't knock on your door everyday. It knocks once in your lifetime if you are lucky enough. The overwhelming majority of people haven't had that luck at all in their entire lives.
People's deception and anger can be felt everywhere, in every square inch of Cambodia's land: corruption, deforestation, land grabbing, the plundering of State assets, social injustice, unemployment, persecution, mistreatment, rights abuses, drug and/or human trafficking, arbitrary killings, border encroachment by neighbouring countries, foreign domination and the list goes on and on. What else are you waiting for? Are you waiting for a noon at 14:00 o'clock? If you are, the window of opportunity will remain closed for you forever.
SRP, NRP, HRP or whateverP, please wake up to this reality. An alliance is totally unnecessary. Working separately towards People Power will achieve much better results than forging an Alliance!
9:33, If you think that we must
attended you stupid and backward
Yale, Havard, ..., or Berkley,
before we can lead our country,
I say you got to be out of your
fucking mind, moron. Those stupid
schools of your have a lot to learn
from our peasants yet before they
are qualified to teach a monkey
like you, stupid.
10:11, People Power has been
working all along, you blind idiot.
That is why Ah Sam Nazi is not
ruling Cambodia. Get it?
Eh, what you need is PLOM job, instead. Come on, boy.
Dear 10:31,
If Cambodians thought Hun Sen would leave office if he were voted out, he would be voted out and Sam Rainsy would be PM. But Cambodians know that Hun Sen will not leave office no matter what the vote, so they vote for him to get some crumbs from the CPP feast. Get it?
10:49, I don't think a leech can't
find where yours piece is. So what
PLOM job are you talking about?
Yeah, I get 10:53. You are full of
excuses, aren't you? And I bet you
inherited that from Ah Sam Nazi.
Pass the anti-corruption law then Cambodian people will have more job!
Let's bomb Yuon and Cambodia but keep only Laos. These animals Yuon and Khmers deserve to all die. They're too evils. Too many evil Yuon all over so just bomb them all. kill all yuon and khmers.
you can bomb all including ah ho chi minh grave, just keep angkor wat okie?
Tell it to Ah Sam Nazi, 11:54. We
are ready months ago.
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