Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Amnesty International issues "Report 2006: The state of the world's human rights"

Amnesty International released its latest human rights report this morning. Here are their key demands, as listed in their press release:
  • To the United Nations and African Union to address the conflict and end human rights abuses in Darfur;
  • To the United Nations to negotiate for an Arms Trade Treaty to govern the trade of small arms so that they cannot be used to commit human rights abuses;
  • To the US Administration to close Guantánamo Bay detention camp, and disclose the names and locations of all ‘war on terror’ prisoners elsewhere;
  • To the new UN Human Rights Council, to insist on equal standards of respect of human rights from all governments, whether in Darfur or Guantánamo, Chechnya or China.
AI does find hope in "growing public resistance to assaults on human rights." Me, I'm just depressed at the number of times the United States shows up in the report. I'm sure it's naive of me, but I can't understand why the richest and most powerful nation in the world can't also be the most civilized and humane.

The whole report can be read online.

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