by Keith Richmond
BARACK Obama’S administration has to put human rights at the heart of its foreign, domestic and security policy if it is to undo the “enormous damage” of the Bush years, according to the Human Rights Watch World Report, published this week.
The report is a devastating indictment of the former administration. Under the heading “The Disastrous Bush Years” it condemns the “abdication of leadership by governments that traditionally hold themselves forth as defenders of human rights”.
It says: “No government bears greater blame for this abdication than the United States under President George W Bush. The Bush administration chose to respond to the serious security challenge of terrorism by ignoring the most basic requirements of international human rights law. Its decision, made not by low level ‘bad apples’ but at the highest levels of government, was to ‘disappear’ suspects into secret detention facilities run by the CIA, subject them to torture and detain them for years on end without charge or trial.
“The consequences have been disastrous. This flouting of human rights law generated resentment that was a boon to terrorist recruiters and discouraged international co-operation with law enforcement efforts.”
Western governments – especially America and Britain – are also condemned for failing to promote human rights in the Middle East. The report says: “Because of Saudi Arabia’s oil production no Western government mounted any serious challenge to its lack of political freedoms or its severe restrictions on the rights of women.”
