woiyo wrote:candidone1 wrote:woiyo wrote:This is a JOKE and a politically motivated ploy.
It is one thing to classify Human Rights violations against your own people, but to think that ANY FORM imprisionment would NOT qualify as a HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION is the joke.
This is why I can not take AI seriously. When you have genocide happening in many countries in Africa and Asia, how stupid is it to classify "so-called" prisioner abuse a human rights violation.
Yeah, that Abu Ghraib Photoshop job was a hoot wasn't it.
That musta taken some time to manufacture and manipulate huh?
Why don't you speak to the abuses in Asia and Africa. Maybe we can make this a more coherent discussion.
I have the objective ability to understand the difference between treatment of prisioners of war and your countries own citizens.
Apparently, you can not. So if you want to support a group such as AI who ignores the genocide in Africa while they suggest treatment of prisioners of war as gross violations, do not expect any argument from me. The total illogical conclusion you and AI have come to can not be debated intelligently.
I believe that the AI can walk and chew gum at the same time.
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/regAFR/regAFR?OpenDocument
AFRICA
Highlights of Amnesty International Report 2001
Covering events from January to December 2000
Continuing armed and inter-ethnic conflict in many countries continued to fuel gross human rights abuses. In Burundi, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan , war resulted in large scale killing of civilians, rape, torture, '' disappearances'' and massive population displacement. Both government and rebel forces were responsible for extrajudicial executions of suspected opponents and hapless civilians.
Sierra Leone suffered appalling atrocities (abduction, rape, amputation) as they were caught in the conflict between government and rebel forces. The plight of refugees in Angola, Burundi, the DRC and Sudan was equally serious.
Sudanese government troops pursued a scorched-earth strategy by forcibly displacing civilians in areas of the south with oil fields. Humanitarian flights by relief agencies for refugees, especially in Western Upper Nile, were banned. All parties to the conflict committed gross human rights abuses against civilians in the contested areas, including indiscriminate bombing, abduction, enslavement and forcible recruitment.
In Burundi , the signing of the Arusha peace accord in August brought little relief from the fighting as government and rebel forces battled for the control of the capital and neighbouring communes. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the process. International pressure forced the government to dismantle '' regroupment''camps into which as many as 350,000 civilians had been forced.
The international community made efforts to resolve the conflict in the DRC , Sierra Leone and between Eritrea and Ethiopia , including strengthening UN peacekeeping operations. Action was also taken to halt the trade in diamonds used to procure arms in Angola and Sierra Leone.
Throughout the year, Amnesty International received many consistent and substantiated reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in at least 32 countries. The pattern that emerged was of torture being used almost on a routine basis by security operatives and where governments, by failing to remedy the situation, appeared to condone the practice. In countries such as Cameroon, Liberia and Sudan , criminal suspects were routinely assaulted and subjected to vicious and prolonged periods of torture. The practice was endemic among security forces and resulted in many deaths in custody. The failure to call human rights violators to account led directly to continued abuses, thus illustrating a frightening degree of casualness and sense of impunity amongst security forces.
In Nigeria , the introduction of Shari'a law in many northern states led to harsh corporal punishments for offences including theft, consumption of alcohol, gambling and sexual misdemeanors.
Although many perpetrators of human rights abuses continued to escape justice in Africa, the UN Security Council, in a major move to end impunity in situations of armed conflict, resolved to establish a Special Court for Sierra Leone. In June 2000, a joint United Nations/ Organization of African Unity Commission of Inquiry was appointed to investigate hundreds of alleged extrajudicial executions in 1998.
Politically motivated harassment of opponents remained public policy in Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, Togo, Liberia, Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe. Government officials systematically used their positions to gravely undermine freedom of expression and of association. In Zimbabwe, members of the judiciary and the press were constantly under physical threat. When security forces used force to disperse peaceful marches and demonstrations, they frequently arrested those taking part and assaulted them in custody.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN AFRICA DETAILED IN AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S ANNUAL REPORT 2001
EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS
Confirmed or possible extrajudicial executions were carried out in 24 countries.
''DISAPPEARANCES''
People ''disappeared'' or remained ''disappeared'' from previous years in at least 9 countries.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
People were reportedly tortured or ill-treated by security forces, police or other state authorities in 32 countries.
PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE
Confirmed or possible prisoners of conscience were held in 21 countries.
DETENTION WITHOUT CHARGE
People were arbitrarily arrested and detained, or were held in detention without charge or trial, in 25 countries.
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES BY ARMED OPPOSITION GROUPS
Armed opposition groups committed serious human rights abuses such as deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians, torture and hostage-taking in 24 countries.
