Amnesty report: Human rights violations widespread worldwide

June 14, 2000
Web posted at: 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 GMT)

In this story: Zimbabwe listed one of the worst Not all bad news Highlights RELATED STORIES, SITES

LONDON (CNN) -- Governments and opposition groups on every continent violate human rights every day, according to a report released on Wednesday by Amnesty International.

The London-based human rights group's annual report says human rights abuses are not limited to "areas of crisis" that receive heavy media attention, such as Kosovo, Chechnya and East Timor, but are widespread from the United States to Peru to the Xinjiang region of China.

The report, however, concludes that major crises can be avoided if the international community addresses them early.

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"None of the human rights tragedies of recent years were unpredictable or unavoidable," the organization's report said. "It is only through a serious collective commitment to the day-to-day protection of human rights for all, wherever they live and whoever they are, that future human rights crises can be prevented."

Amnesty International also said: "The warning signs for the massive crises that struck Burundi, Chechnya, East Timor and Kosovo in 1999 were all there for the world to see and for governments to take action on."

Stopping human rights abuses, the report said, required that countries condemn violations "by their allies as well as their foes."

Zimbabwe listed one of the worst

The report found violations in at least 144 countries -- nearly two-thirds of the world's nations -- based on 1999 data and events. It cited Zimbabwe as one of the areas of greatest concern.

In that southern African country, "the human rights situation deteriorated" in 1999, according to the report.

Human rights abuses last year in Zimbabwe included the first reports of politically motivated torture since the late 1980s, including the widespread torture of criminal suspects by police, and torture and death threats against independent journalists, according to the report.

The report singles out Zimbabwe's treatment of women, citing a court ruling in 1999 that upheld a law granting unmarried women the status of minors. The report also makes brief mention of widely reported attacks against Zimbabwe's white minority.

In addition, the report cites Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's anti-gay "hate speech campaign" that led to harassment against gay people in Zimbabwe.

Abuses in the United States' justice system also figure heavily in Amnesty International's survey.

"More prisoners were executed in 1999 than in any year since 1951" in the United States, the report says.

It also claims widespread incidents of police brutality, including racial profiling, misuse of pepper spray and police dogs, and the shooting of suspects in "disputed circumstances."

Not all bad news

But the world's human rights record was not all bleak, the report said, citing the effort to bring former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet to trial on charges of torture during his 17-year rule of Chile.

A British court stripped Pinochet of the immunity he had as a former head of state, but he was allowed to return to Chile because of ill health. But Chile's Supreme Court ruled last month that the former ruler has no immunity in his home country.

"The Pinochet case ... opened a window of hope for all the victims and relatives still pursuing justice," Amnesty said.

Highlights

The following are some alleged abuses cited by Amnesty in selected countries: