Amnesty International Gives out Human Rights Report Cards.
And so, without much fan-fair, I turn my attention to politics for a bit. Why? I suppose I'm a bit of a masochist.
Amnesty International has issued a report (which I can only find excerpts of online, so I've no link handy) wherein they chide Israel rather strongly. They also issued a report on Hamas, something I am not seeing mentioned much online, wherin:
Amnesty charged that the security forces were also being allowed to evade justice and its system of justice was riddled with problems.
"The security and judicial institutions remained dysfunctional, beset by factional fighting and power struggles, and unable or unwilling to restore law and order," it said (Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060523/wl_mideast_afp/amnestyrightsmideastisrael)
As they're also calling Hamas to the carpet for their inability to manage the chaos, I don't think one can accuse Amnesty of partisanship here. It would be easier for me to decide that if I had access to both reports for a fair comparison.
However, I have to say I'm proud of the Israeli Government's reaction to the report:
The Israeli government said it was studying Amnesty's report "very carefully".
"Defending human rights is central to Israeli democracy," said foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev. "We take any allegations as to possible violations of human rights extremely seriously and investigate them thoroughly." (Source: Same link as above).
Let's compare that to how the US handled a negative report by AI:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060523/pl_afp/amnestyrightsus
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed allegations by the Nobel Prize-winning rights group
Wow. So there's no torture in US Prisons? Abu Ghari was just a bad dream?
The best part is how he then tries to turn it around on Amnesty:
He went on to point out Amnesty's role in documenting rights abuses during the 24 years of Saddam's rule before he was deposed by the Americans in 2003 and later captured and charged with crimes against humanity.
"But when it came time to put Saddam Hussein on trial, which is happening right now, they (Amnesty) are absent. They've done zero, zip, nothing, to assist in those efforts,"
Again, wow. So documenting those human rights abuses (which is AI's job) does nothing to help the actual trial? How so, exactly? Isn't having actual evidence an important part of a trial? I could make snarky jokes about manufacturing evidence like some say the POTUS did with the WMDs, but that would be inappropriate. Oops. Too late.
Anyway, back on topic:
I'm impressed by Israel's response. They own up to the possibility that there might be a Human Rights issue, instead of ignoring it or stating that they're just doing what they feel is necessary to prevent terrorism and it's none of Amnesty's business. I felt just as proud when the Israeli Judicial System said the Security Wall had to be altered so as to prevent cutting off those outside the wall from needed water and grazing land.
I think all of us, not just the US Government, could stand to learn something from the Israeli response.
It's easy to dismiss criticism, especially when it comes from the outside. It's easy to dehumanize your opponents. It's a lot harder to admit that you yourself may be contributing to the situation.
And so, without much fan-fair, I turn my attention to politics for a bit. Why? I suppose I'm a bit of a masochist.
Amnesty International has issued a report (which I can only find excerpts of online, so I've no link handy) wherein they chide Israel rather strongly. They also issued a report on Hamas, something I am not seeing mentioned much online, wherin:
Amnesty charged that the security forces were also being allowed to evade justice and its system of justice was riddled with problems.
"The security and judicial institutions remained dysfunctional, beset by factional fighting and power struggles, and unable or unwilling to restore law and order," it said (Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060523/wl_mideast_afp/amnestyrightsmideastisrael)
As they're also calling Hamas to the carpet for their inability to manage the chaos, I don't think one can accuse Amnesty of partisanship here. It would be easier for me to decide that if I had access to both reports for a fair comparison.
However, I have to say I'm proud of the Israeli Government's reaction to the report:
The Israeli government said it was studying Amnesty's report "very carefully".
"Defending human rights is central to Israeli democracy," said foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev. "We take any allegations as to possible violations of human rights extremely seriously and investigate them thoroughly." (Source: Same link as above).
Let's compare that to how the US handled a negative report by AI:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060523/pl_afp/amnestyrightsus
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed allegations by the Nobel Prize-winning rights group
Wow. So there's no torture in US Prisons? Abu Ghari was just a bad dream?
The best part is how he then tries to turn it around on Amnesty:
He went on to point out Amnesty's role in documenting rights abuses during the 24 years of Saddam's rule before he was deposed by the Americans in 2003 and later captured and charged with crimes against humanity.
"But when it came time to put Saddam Hussein on trial, which is happening right now, they (Amnesty) are absent. They've done zero, zip, nothing, to assist in those efforts,"
Again, wow. So documenting those human rights abuses (which is AI's job) does nothing to help the actual trial? How so, exactly? Isn't having actual evidence an important part of a trial? I could make snarky jokes about manufacturing evidence like some say the POTUS did with the WMDs, but that would be inappropriate. Oops. Too late.
Anyway, back on topic:
I'm impressed by Israel's response. They own up to the possibility that there might be a Human Rights issue, instead of ignoring it or stating that they're just doing what they feel is necessary to prevent terrorism and it's none of Amnesty's business. I felt just as proud when the Israeli Judicial System said the Security Wall had to be altered so as to prevent cutting off those outside the wall from needed water and grazing land.
I think all of us, not just the US Government, could stand to learn something from the Israeli response.
It's easy to dismiss criticism, especially when it comes from the outside. It's easy to dehumanize your opponents. It's a lot harder to admit that you yourself may be contributing to the situation.
posted by - Typo Lad | 6:53 AM
2 Comments:
"As they're also calling Hamas to the carpet for their inability to manage the chaos, I don't think one can accuse Amnesty of partisanship here. It would be easier for me to decide that if I had access to both reports for a fair comparison."
The full report is "The State of the World's Human Rights 2005" so its section on the Palestinian Authority predates HAMAs' election win.
From the section on the PA:
"Inter-factional violence within the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its security forces, and between political factions and armed groups, caused a further deterioration in security in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Armed confrontations, attacks and abductions by Palestinian armed groups increased, and scores of Palestinians were killed amid growing lawlessness. Killings of Israelis by Palestinian armed groups diminished significantly compared to previous years. Impunity remained widespread as PA security forces were unable or unwilling to prevent killings and attacks or to apprehend the perpetrators. Members of PA security forces also participated in attacks, abductions and other abuses. Five Palestinians convicted of murder were executed, ending a three-year de facto moratorium on executions. "
http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/pse-summary-eng
See what happens when you write about politics? Now you've stopped writing.
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