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(Washington) - This year's State Department Human Rights Reports are largely candid and accurate, Human Rights Watch said today, while urging the Bush Administration to apply the reports' findings to coming policy decisions.

The reports single out countries like China and Russia for using the war on terrorism to legitimize repression, and honestly describe abuses committed by U.S. allies such as Uzbekistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. An exception is the Colombia chapter, which appears to inflate the military's progress in cutting ties with paramilitary groups to set the stage for certifying compliance with Congressional human rights conditions.

The reports also forthrightly acknowledge that terrorists gain adherents in countries where human rights are denied and civil liberties are repressed.

"The Administration argues forcefully in this report that defending human rights is vital to fighting terrorism," said Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch. "That argument needs to be reflected in the alliances it is forging, the money it is spending, and the bases it is building overseas."

"For the most part, the State Department deserves credit for pulling no punches," he added. "But a human rights report is not by itself a human rights policy."

Colombia: The State Department must soon certify whether Colombia is cutting ties to paramilitary groups to continue military aid under Plan Colombia. This year's report uses dubious statistics to make general claims of progress. Yet a close reading reveals factual information that contradicts those claims. For example, the report cites increased arrests of paramilitaries to argue that the government's record is improving, yet elsewhere it acknowledges that "top paramilitary leaders largely remained beyond the reach of the law" and that the paramilitary presence in Colombia dramatically expanded in 2001. It claims the military has transferred hundreds of cases involving officers to civilian courts, yet it elsewhere concedes "there was no information available as to how many of these cases dealt specifically with human rights."

Uzbekistan: The State Department must certify that Uzbekistan is making progress on human rights to continue assistance under the Nunn-Lugar program. The report offers scant evidence of progress. It notes the government's persecution of independent human rights organizations and banned political parties, its control over the media, and use of censorship and criminal libel. It relates with laudable accuracy the routine use of torture, including electric shock, beatings, rape, and asphyxiation, and the police practice of taking relatives of suspects into custody as hostages. It falls short, however, in labeling the government's multi-year campaign of arrest, torture, incarceration, and extrajudicial execution of independent Muslims as a "restriction" on religion rather than persecution. While acknowledging that members of Islamic groups are targeted by the police, it fails to highlight the thousands of religious Muslim prisoners who were jailed for their beliefs and who were not members of any organized group. While noting that a number of political and religious prisoners were recently amnestied, it neglects to mention that to qualify for the amnesty prisoners had to renounce their faith and pay a bribe - and that those who refused suffered even worse treatment than before.

Prior to the March 12 summit between President Bush and Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, the administration should call on its Central Asian partner to make concrete concessions in the area of human rights, including the release of prominent political prisoners and the registration of human rights groups. U.S. decisions on aid and the nature of its military presence in Uzbekistan should take into account its responsiveness to these concerns.

Afghanistan: The report is strong on Taliban human rights violations, but gives too little attention to abuses by the Northern Alliance before and after September 11. Since coming to power in Northern Afghanistan, the armed elements of the Northern Alliance have committed severe abuses - including widespread looting, murder, beatings, and sexual violence - against Pashtun civilians in Northern Afghanistan. This pattern of abuses by Northern Alliance forces, which is not mentioned in the report, argues strongly for an expanded international security presence in the country.

The material on the Taliban is strong enough to suggest that the U.S. should be actively pressing within the Security Council for the establishment of a Commission of Experts to gather evidence for possible future prosecutions.

China: The report on China is at least as hard-hitting as last year's. In 2000, the State Department said that China's human rights record had "worsened" with a tightening of controls on dissent across the board. Today's report says that it has "remained poor" with "numerous and serious abuses," which are documented in great detail. The State Department notes in several places that abuses in Xinjiang, the far northwestern predominantly Muslim province, were particularly severe, including the targeting of the "Strike Hard" anti-crime campaign against so-called separatists, mass sentencing rallies and many executions. Its analysis of religious freedom overall is characterized in almost identical terms as last year's, noting that unofficial religious groups suffer "official interference, harassment and repression" and detailing abuses of religious freedom in Tibet. Based on this report, the administration should immediately begin a high level diplomatic effort to censure China at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva later this month. Even without a seat, the US can work to identify an original sponsor of a China resolution, add its own support and urge other governments to back it.

The introduction to the full report also acknowledges the Chinese government's attempt to equate Uighur calls for autonomy or independence, no matter how peaceful, with international terrorism. President Bush should use the upcoming visit of Vice President Hu Jintao to Washington in late April to convey this concern publicly and privately. The U.S. should also resist requests to turn over to China any Uighurs captured in Afghanistan.

Indonesia: Despite numerous errors, omissions, and sloppy editing, the Indonesia chapter underscores how poor the human rights record of the military and police continues to be. Not only do extrajudicial executions, torture, and arbitrary detention continue, particularly in areas such as Aceh and Papua, but the military continues to enjoy near total impunity. To restore unrestricted military-to-military aid under such circumstances, as some in the Bush administration are proposing, would be to effectively reward the security forces for bad behavior.

Russia: The report describes candidly the continued violence and abuse by Russian forces against the civilian population in Chechnya, even if it mildly underestimates the near-total impunity for such crimes. The administration should use the information contained in the report at the upcoming U.N. Commission on Human Rights to press for accountability and the establishment of an official record of the crimes committed during the conflict, and to ensure access to international human rights monitors, including those under U.N. mandates, to Chechnya. The Administration should use the period before the May Bush-Putin summit to seek firm human rights commitments from Russia.

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: The report forthrightly notes that "[w]ith the exception of the transfer of Slobodan Milosevic and a few other war criminals, the Government's cooperation with the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) decreased significantly during the year. [...] [A]t year's end, several indictees remained at liberty, and, in at least one case, still in an official position in Serbia." It states that the FRY government "has been uncooperative in requests for documents regarding crimes committed by Serbs against other ethnic groups, and in arranging interviews with official and nongovernmental witnesses." The Secretary of State should use the upcoming March 31 cut-off date for U.S. assistance to the FRY government to press for full cooperation by the FRY government with the ICTY. The administration, too, should signal to Belgrade and beyond that it values international justice, and overcome perceptions that it does not fully support the tribunal's work.

Saudi Arabia: The State department harshly assesses Saudi Arabia's rights record as "poor," in stark contrast with the warm bi-lateral relations that exist with the U.S. Saudi Arabia has a seat on the UN Human Rights Commission, and has signed onto the major human rights conventions, including the Convention Against Torture. However, the State Department review shows the Kingdom is regularly violating rights that it has pledged to uphold as a party to these treaties. The Kingdom lacks essential building blocks for civil society, including any independent institutions, women's or political groups - the report says there are "no active women's rights groups" in the country. Torture and abuse of detainees is widespread. The US should push for greater freedom of association and long-term permission for international rights groups to monitor conditions in the Kingdom (Saudi Arabia regularly "invites" human rights groups to monitor, with permission to visit never materializing). Joining the World Trade Organization is one of the Saudi regime's top objectives and should be leveraged for concrete rights progress.

Israel/Palestinian Authority: The Israel/P.A. report is comprehensive and describes many human rights abuses over the past year, particularly the large number of violent attacks on civilians. In both Israel and the P.A., the human rights record is accurately described as "poor." A major weakness of this report is that there is very little reference to human rights or humanitarian law standards. The US should ask Israel to adopt non-lethal responses to unarmed demonstrators and conduct serious and impartial investigations into Palestinian deaths resulting from alleged wrongful IDF actions. The U.S. should ask the Palestinian Authority to establish a clear chain of command and enforce effective standards of conduct and accountability for all armed personnel. Finally, the P.A. should take concrete and effective steps to halt Palestinian armed attacks against Israeli civilians.

Congo: The chapter is detailed and balanced in documenting abuses by the government and the rebels. However, it remains largely silent on the legal status of the Ugandan and Rwandan forces in eastern Congo, failing to qualify it as an occupation, and says little about their conduct. The report emphasizes the security interests that the two governments cite in justifying their involvement in the Congo war, while failing to adequately portray their economic interests in plundering all forms of wealth from Congo. These shortcomings correspond to the failure of the U.S. government to hold the Ugandan and Rwandan governments responsible for their actions in the DRC, notably the grave violations of international humanitarian law and massive human suffering taking place in territories under their occupation. As the occupying powers, under international law they must protect civilians and stop these killings.

Nigeria: The report provides a comprehensive and accurate description of the poor human rights situation in Nigeria. However, it does not adequately indicate the Nigerian government's responsibility to investigate and prosecute serious human rights abuses. The report notes numerous killings by the security forces and other violence during inter-communal conflicts, but does not stress the government's continuing failure to investigate these abuses or take preventive action. While appropriately describing the killing of civilians in October in Benue state as "the year's most egregious case," the report goes on to attribute the killings in part to a lack of training. In fact, this incident was a well-organized reprisal operation following the abduction and killing of nineteen soldiers by an armed group. The U.S. should ensure that any future assistance to the Nigerian security forces be linked to measurable progress in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the killings and destruction in Benue in 2001, as well as the killing and destruction in Odi in 1999.

Analogies to U.S. Policies: To its credit, the reports continue to criticize the practice of detaining suspects without charge in countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China and Malaysia, as well as the prosecution of civilians in military courts without adequate due process. America's ability to complain about such abuses will be undercut, however, if its response to terrorism at home does not reflect the standards championed by the State Department abroad.

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