| AI Report Special court weakens fair trial safeguards 'Politically motivated' charges brought Staff Correspondent
 | | Irene Khan | The caretaker government has brought "politically motivated" charges against individuals and weakened fair-trial safeguards by setting up special courts, according to the latest global report of Amnesty International (AI). The "Amnesty International Report 2008: State of the World's Human Rights" released yesterday also says the police and army personnel have violated human rights in Bangladesh with impunity. These are parts of a larger global trend observed by the AI, which also include suppressing dissent and promoting torture and ill treatment to gather intelligence. "Fair trial safeguards were weakened by the use of Special Courts which imposed tight restrictions on defendants' access to lawyers, and by the denial of bail to defendants charged under emergency regulations," reads the report on Bangladesh. According to the report, many were detained "arbitrarily" and held under emergency rules over the past year. "Some were then charged with politically motivated criminal offences," says the report. The AI has accused the security forces, including the army, paramilitary forces and the police, of violating human rights with impunity through "torture and other ill-treatment and alleged extra-judicial executions". "Army personnel accused of human rights violations remained almost entirely outside the purview of civilian judicial accountability mechanisms," reports the AI. AI Secretary General Irene Khan wrote to Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed last November, urging him to launch an unrestricted enquiry into human rights violations by security forces. The report observes that the police lack adequate training and equipment, effective accountability and oversight mechanisms. It reports that wide-ranging media restrictions, although not strictly enforced, compelled the media to intensify self-censorship. "Journalists were threatened with arrest if they criticised intelligence agencies or the army," it says, adding that human rights activists and lawyers have also fallen victims to state detention, torture or threats. "As in previous years, human rights defenders were subjected to arbitrary detention and tortures. Lawyers were allegedly threatened with arrest on corruption charges if they took up high-profile cases," says the AI, which operates in over 150 countries. The report also reports of continued violence against women and the lack of government action to bring war criminals to justice. 
The Daily Star |
The military-backed caretaker government has arrested over 4,40,000 people, many of whom have been detained arbitrarily and initially held under the state of emergency, reported Amnesty International.
It added that a number of detainees, held without trial under emergency regulations or the Special Powers Act, have reportedly been tortured or ill-treated.
'Fair trial safeguards were weakened by the use of Special Courts which imposed tight restrictions on defendants' access to lawyers, and by the denial of bail to defendants charged under emergency regulations,' said the London-based human rights watchdog in its annual report released on Wednesday.
The report referred to 'widespread concerns both about the role of the army in the country's political life and about economic problems, including a sharp rise in the cost of food and other essential goods'.
Amnesty International expressed its concern at the inaction against the law enforcing agencies that had been involved in more than 100 custodial deaths during the period of emergency.
'The government embarked on an anti-corruption programme, and took steps towards judicial and electoral reforms, but the pace of reforms was disappointingly slow,' said the report titled 'Amnesty International 2008: State of the World's Human Rights' in a chapter on Bangladesh.
Touching on the issue of arbitrary detention, the human rights watchdog said, 'Over 4,40,000 people were arrested on various grounds during the year. Many detainees were detained arbitrarily, initially held under the emergency rules, then served with a detention order under the 1974 Special Powers Act (SPA). Some were then charged with politically motivated criminal offences.'
The report mentioned that some people held under emergency rules were accused of 'extortion' or other criminal activities. Detainees included over 160 politicians from the main political parties, as well as some wealthy business people.
It said that despite emergency rules that restrict the freedom of association, members of certain parties supported by the army-controlled interim government were allowed to meet with no restrictions throughout the year.
Amnesty felt that although wide-ranging emergency restrictions on the news media were not strictly enforced, their continued existence intensified self-censorship by newsmen and editors. Journalists were threatened with arrest if they criticized intelligence agencies or the army.
Amnesty observed that, as in previous years, 'human rights defenders were subjected to arbitrary detention and torture' and 'lawyers were allegedly threatened with arrest on corruption charges if they took up high-profile cases'.
Sixty years on, human rights
a global mess: Amnesty
Reuters/bdnews24.com . London | Six decades after world leaders unanimously signed the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the record is dismal and urgent action is needed to prevent global chaos, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
From Asia to the United States and Africa, countries are reneging on their global commitments to uphold human rights and people are starting to lose patience, secretary general Irene Khan said in an interview marking the group's annual report.
'There is a burning platform out there, flashpoints around the world, Iraq, Darfur, Zimbabwe, the Middle East, the Palestinian conflict. Governments have to act before things worsen,' she said.
China had to live up to its new world-power status and end rights abuses, the United States – which had condoned the use of torture – must clean up its act, Myanmar must open up to the world and African leaders had to show responsibility, Khan said.
Although China had fallen down on the promises on human rights it made when winning its bid to host the Olympic Games in August, the global event will be a lever for change, she said.
'It is important that China recognises that it is a global power, it is coming on the global stage, it must uphold global values – the global values of human rights at home and abroad.'
'The Chinese government has changed its position on Darfur in the UN Security Council. The Chinese government has used its influence on Myanmar to open its door to the UN.'
'So there is potential there for China to positively use the Olympics to bring about human rights change inside China,' Khan said.
On December 10, 1948 the UN general assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, forming a foundation for international human rights law and a first universal statement on the basic principles of human rights.
Amnesty's annual report, in strong language for an organisation that often uses legal jargon, accused the US government of 'breathtaking legal obfuscation' in condoning the use of torture to obtain information.
But it also criticisd European governments for at best ignoring and at worse facilitating 'extraordinary rendition' flights taking US terrorism suspects to countries where torture was used.
'Unfortunately powerful governments like the US, like the members of the European Union, set the pattern for behaviour of governments around the world but they tend to forget it themselves,' Khan said.
'There is an imperative for governments to change their behaviour and that imperative is that human rights problems are like viruses, they spread around the world.'
She welcomed the action by dockworkers in South Africa who earlier this year refused to unload a cargo of arms from China destined for Zimbabwe.
But she also noted the bloody backlash around Johannesburg against immigrants – many who have fled Zimbabwe where the economy is in ruins, starvation is rampant and there is a crackdown on political dissent.
'That is the type of tension that is likely to spill out if governments don't take care of the root causes of the human rights problems of the kind that we see in Zimbabwe,' Khan said.
But while the past 60 years were cause for lamentation on human rights progress, Khan said there was a glimmer of hope.
'What gives me hope ... is the resurgence of people power. There is a much stronger global movement of people demanding justice and equality. That puts pressure on governments,' she said.
'In the long term history shows that stability comes through respect for human rights.'
|
