Amnesty International's annual human rights report says emerging economies like India must do more on the human rights front

Sixty years after the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, governments in scores of countries still torture or mistreat their people. Amnesty International’s annual State of the World’s Human Rights report, released on May 28, 2008, says people are still abused and tortured in at least 81countries, men and women  face unfair trials in at least 54 countries, and people are denied free speech in a least 77 nations. 

The report says flashpoints in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar demand immediate action.

The report paints a gloomy picture of India’s human rights situation. It alleges that there have been gross violations of human rights in the country, including in Nandigram in West Bengal, and sought the abolition of capital punishment.

India, as a well-established liberal democracy with a strong legal tradition of human rights and an independent judiciary, should be a role model for other nations but ‘it needs to be more forceful in its domestic implementation and more forthright in its international leadership of human rights’.

‘What leadership can we expect from emerging powers such as India, South Africa or Brazil if they fail in protecting human rights of their own nationals?’

“Institutional mechanisms failed to protect civil and political rights or ensure justice for victims. The failings extended to economic, social and cultural rights, particularly of already marginalised communities,” said Mukul Sharma, head of Amnesty International India.

The world’s leading human rights body singled out the violence in Nandigram, the ‘disappearance’ of people in Jammu and Kashmir and the displacement of tribals in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh as major rights abuses.

It accused the Left Front government in West Bengal of not acting in an impartial manner when the Nandigram violence flared up in 2007.

“Our team found that CPI-M supporters frequently subjected women to violent attacks, including rape and beatings, as well as to threats and harassment,” Sharma said. He demanded that “those responsible for the violence must be prosecuted and the grievances of victims redressed.”

The report noted ‘disappearances’ in Jammu and Kashmir following reports of 940 mass graves found in Uri district.

It also highlighted the plight of adivasis in Dantewada, many of whom have been displaced from their homes and are being forced to live in special camps, allegedly due to the Salwa Judum, the state-supported vigilante anti-Naxal campaign.

Amnesty sought the abolition of the death penalty in India and pointed out that ‘at least 100 people have been sentenced to death although no executions took place’.

The report does not spare developed nations. A country like the United States, whose human rights record is questionable, sets the standard for governments’ behaviour globally, it says, citing examples of illegal detentions in Guantanamo and the abuse of force in Iraq. ‘The hollowness of the US administration’s call for democracy and freedom abroad was displayed in its continued support of President Musharraf as he arrested thousands of lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and political activists for demanding democracy, rule of law and an independent judiciary in Pakistan.’

Source: Press Trust of India, June 2, 2008
            www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/3573, June 2, 2008