[psych-hr] USA: Need for reflection on Human Rights Day

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI Index: AMR 51/181/2002 (Public)
News Service No: 227
9 December 2002

USA: Need for reflection on Human Rights Day


"With two executions scheduled to take place in the USA on 10 December, the
54th international Human Rights Day, US politicians should reflect on their
country's selective approach to global standards of justice and decency,"
Amnesty International said today, noting that as many as five other men
could also be put to death in the USA this week.

"More than half the countries of the world have turned their backs on
judicial killing, recognizing its incompatibility with human dignity, its
failure to have any special deterrent effect, and its capacity for fatal
error", Amnesty International stressed.

"In contrast, the USA, which frequently claims to be the world's most
progressive force for human rights, has put more than 600 men and women to
death in the past decade, many in violation of specific international
standards," the organization added, noting that earlier this year President
Bush promised that "America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable
demands of human dignity" and Secretary of State Colin Powell asserted that
"we will not relax our commitment to advancing the cause of human rights".

More than 60 people have been executed in the USA this year alone.They
include a mentally ill man, several people whose legal representation was
inadequate, prisoners whose guilt remained in doubt, a Mexican national
denied his consular rights, and a Pakistan national abducted from Pakistan
by US agents ignoring human rights safeguards.

The executions also include the only three child offenders (under 18 at the
time of the crime) known to have been put to death anywhere in the world in
2002. Such executions, of which the USA is virtually the sole remaining
perpetrator, violate international law and have been roundly condemned by
the international community. In October, for example, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights noted that the prohibition is a non-derogable
norm which "crosses political and ideological boundaries" and represents
"prevailing standards of decency."

"When any state, let alone a country as powerful as the USA, insists on its
right to adopt a selective approach to international standards, the
integrity of those standards is eroded", Amnesty International continued.
"Why should any other state not then claim for itself the prerogative to
adhere to only those portions of international human rights law which suit
its purposes?"

The USA's attitude to the system of international human rights protection
has continued to cause concern throughout the past year on areas other than
the death penalty:

During 2002, the US has approached governments requesting them to enter
into agreements that they will not surrender US nationals accused of
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the new International
Criminal Court. In many cases, the US government threatened to withdraw
military assistance from countries that will not agree.

More than 600 detainees held in the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay remain
in legal limbo, without access to the courts or lawyers. Some have been
held for almost a year, with no prospect of release or trial. Others may
face military commissions which would flout international standards for
fair trial. Conditions of confinement, in small cells for up to 24 hours a
day, with minimal opportunity for exercise, may amount to cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment and raise serious concern about the well-being of
the detainees.

On 8 November, Amnesty International wrote to the US Government to express
concern about the possible extrajudicial execution of six men in a car in
Yemen, allegedly targeted by a CIA-controlled Predator drone aircraft.

This time last year, President George Bush proclaimed 10 December as Human
Rights Day in the United States, stressing the importance of the promotion
of human rights around the world and emphasising the USA's commitment to
justice and human dignity.

"A year on, those words are ringing hollow with business as usual for US
executioners, and with the USA's selective approach to international
standards alive and well", Amnesty International said, adding that the USA
should recognize the danger that such an approach poses to global human
rights progress as well as the damage it inflicts on its own reputation
abroad.

The two people who face execution on 10 December are Jerry McCracken in
Oklahoma, and Desmond Carter in North Carolina. Linroy Bottoson could be
executed in Florida today if a judge rules him mentally competent to be
killed.James Collier and Jessie Williams are due to be put to death on 11
December in Texas and Mississippi respectively, and Anthony Johnson and Jay
Neill are scheduled for lethal injection in Alabama and Oklahoma on Thursday.


See also USA: Human rights v Public relations, AMR 51/140/2002, 24 August
2002 at http://click.topica.com/maaaHkGaaUNwFbb0imPb/ [2]
View all documents on USA: http://click.topica.com/maaaHkGaaUNwGbb0imPb/[3]

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