The Bush Administration should signal its allies not to use the fight against terrorism as cover for their own domestic campaigns against political opponents, Human Rights Watch urged today in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
In recent days, a number of governments around the world have taken advantage of the attacks of September 11 to justify internal crackdowns against those they deem to be terrorists and "separatists." Russia has compared the U.S. war on terrorism to its own brutal campaign against Chechen rebels. China has requested support for its repressive policies in Tibet and the Muslim region of Xinjiang. Egypt has lashed out against outside criticism of its human rights record, saying that the world should now adopt its fight against terrorism as a model.
"If an American-led counter-terrorism effort becomes associated with attacks on peaceful dissent and religious expression, it will undermine everything the United States is trying to achieve," said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. "Many countries are sensing that the United States will condone actions committed in the name of anti-terrorism that it would have condemned a short time ago."
The danger of this kind of opportunism is particularly acute in Central Asia, Human Rights Watch said. Uzbekistan, which U.S. military forces will be using as a staging ground for operations in Afghanistan, has in recent years imprisoned thousands of non-violent Muslims for worshiping outside state controls or joining unregistered religious organizations.
"President Bush has rightly said this can't become a war on Islam," Roth said. "Uzbekistan's indiscriminate persecution of non-violent Muslims is directly undermining his message."
Human Rights Watch called on the U.S. administration to continue denying U.S. security assistance to those who might use it to commit human rights abuses, to avoid cooperative activities that will be read by abusive governments as condoning their practices, and to publicly condemn efforts by repressive governments to take advantage of the recent attack.
