Washington's global anti-terror policies are "bankrupt of vision" as human rights become sacrificed in the blind pursuit of security, the human-rights group Amnesty International charged yesterday.
The US-led war on terror against extremist groups such as al-Qaeda has produced the most sustained attack on human rights and international law in 50 years, Amnesty said in its annual report released yesterday.
Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary general, condemned terrorist assaults by groups such as al-Qaeda, saying they posed a threat to the security of people around the world.
Amnesty also rapped partners across the world in the US' self-declared "war on terror" for jailing suspects unfairly, stamping on legitimate political and religious dissent, and squeezing asylum-seekers.
"The global security agenda promoted by the US administration is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle," Khan said.
"Violating rights at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad and using pre-emptive military force where and when it chooses has damaged justice and freedom, and made the world a more dangerous place," she said.
Specifically, Amnesty lashed Washington for unlawful killings of Iraqi civilians; questionable arrest and mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan; and opposition to a new global criminal court.
"The world is crying out for principled leadership," Khan added, saying the negative effects of US-led anti-terror policies had spread far and wide.
"Governments are losing their moral compass, sacrificing the global values of human rights in a blind pursuit of security," she said.
"By failing to protect the rights of those who may be guilty, governments endanger the rights of those who are innocent and put us all at risk," Khan said.
In Europe and Asia, Amnesty criticized regressive anti-terror legislation, attacks on refugee protection and restrictions on freedom of association and expression.
It singled out Britain for holding 14 foreigners without charge, Spain for closing a Basque-language newspaper, the EU for ignoring human rights in its asylum thinking, and Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for internal repression.
In China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand "the belief ... that human rights could be curtailed under the `war on terror' umbrella was particularly apparent," with hundreds of detainees left in legal limbo, Amnesty's report said.
Arab nations also came in for criticism for allowing the transfer of people between states without judicial proceedings.
"While some states, such as Egypt and Syria, had long-standing states of emergency in place, the `war on terror' was used as a pretext to legitimize existing practices, such as long-term administrative detention and unfair trials by special courts whose procedures fell far short of international standards," the annual report said.
"Other states, such as Morocco and Tunisia, introduced new `anti-terrorism' laws during the year, which posed a further threat to basic human rights."
Amnesty also condemned the "callous, cruel and criminal attacks" by armed groups such as al-Qaeda.
The combined effect of those attacks and states' violations of rights was to create the most serious assault on rights and humanitarian law in half a century and make "a world of growing mistrust, fear and division", it said.
With Iraq and anti-terror policies dominating, world attention has been diverted from old wars, the group also noted. Conflict in Chechnya, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Nepal remain "a breeding ground for some of the worst atrocities."
Khan said she was heartened by millions of people who took to the streets in capitals around the world to protest the war in Iraq, Spaniards who marched following the March 11 terrorist attacks in Madrid and the World Social Forum in Brazil.
"Governments need to listen," she said. "In times of uncertainty, the world needs not only to fight against global threats but to fight for global justice."
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS