-Caveat Lector- Amnesty International Savages US Over Human Rights Record Agence France Presse May 30. 2001 WASHINGTON - Amnesty International accused the United States on Wednesday of failing in its duty to lead the fight against global human rights abuses and placed it in the same "shameful death penalty league" as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. The London-based watchdog used a press conference here to level a volley of accusations against the US government, effectively accusing it of pronouncing on global rights abuses while ignoring violations in its own backyard. "We have a US government that has abdicated its duty to lead," William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said on the day the group launched its annual human rights report. Schulz savaged the US government for opposing the Convention on Landmines and the International Criminal Court and accused successive US administrations of sacrificing "human rights concerns for political expediency." The allegations were immediately rebutted by the State Department, which every year issues its own account of abuses around the world and considers Washington as a standard bearer in promoting human rights. "We fundamentally disagree with the assertion in the report that the United States has become an 'impediment' to the advancement of international human rights," spokesman Philip Reeker said. "The United States has been and will remain the leading advocate for human rights throughout the world," he said. "Our record speaks very much for itself." Earlier this month, the United States was stunned to lose its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission after a vote by the UN Economic and Social Council. But it said the presence on the panel of nations like Iran and Libya, which Washington accuses of blatant rights abuses, reflected its redundancy as a campaigning group. Amnesty also took aim at the US use of the death penalty, saying the United States was out of step with growing antipathy toward capital punishment around the world. "The United States stands in the same shameful death penalty league as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia," Schulz said. "This executioners' quartet was responsible for 88 percent of all known state killings." Amnesty is a longtime critic of the death penalty and of US judicial practices it considers racially discriminatory or excessively violent. The group alleges a lack of equity in the application of the death penalty and the practice in some states of executing the mentally retarded and those younger than 18 years of age at the time they committed crimes. Amnesty also documented in the report several incidents of police brutality and disputed police shootings -- some in which racial discrimination was allegedly a factor -- such as the 1999 killing of African immigrant Amadou Diallo in New York. It also noted reports of excessive force, torture and sexual misconduct in US prisons, as well as cruel conditions in supermaximum-security prisons. "Abuses included ... the misuse of electroshock weapons and chemical sprays and the cruel use of mechanical restraints, including holding prisoners for prolonged periods in four-point restraints as punishment," the report said. It also said there had been several allegations of sexual abuse against female inmates, including reports from Wayne County, West Virginia, that female prisoners had been forced to undergo strip searches conducted by male guards or parade, partially naked, past male inmates. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
