Global human rights organization Amnesty International released its 2013 Annual Report on the state of human rights around the world this week, offering a sober reminder of the myriad wars and ethnic conflicts that continue across the globe each day.
The release comes on the heels of a major foreign policy speech by President Barack Obama Thursday at the National Defense University. Obama attempted to address ongoing human rights concerns at Guantanamo Bay prison and drone use in anti-terror operations abroad.
For Amnesty, a major blemish on the U.S. human rights record continues to be Guantanamo Bay, where 166 detainees languish behind bars without charge or trial. Over 100 are carrying out hunger strikes decrying poor prison conditions. Amnesty documented previously that detainees are subject to sleep deprivation, prolonged stays in solitary confinement and other forms of psychological torture.
“At the end of 2012, nearly three years after President Obama’s deadline for closure of the Guantánamo detention facility, 166 men were still held at the base, the vast majority without charge or criminal trial,” writes Amnesty.
During his policy speech Obama sought to assuage some of these concerns, imploring Congress to close Guantanamo by announcing a renewed effort to transfer approved detainees to their home countries. This includes lifting a previous ban on transfers to Yemen. The end of Yemeni restrictions could lead to the repatriation of 30 Yemeni nationals.
Human rights researchers also expressed concern over the continued use of armed drones Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and other areas where the U.S. has employed lethal force to eliminate suspected terrorists.
“The USA’s ‘targeted killing’ of terrorism suspects, including in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, particularly through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, continued during the year,” writes Amnesty. “Available information, limited by secrecy, indicated that US policy permitted extrajudicial executions in violation of international human rights law under the USA’s theory of a ‘global war’ against al-Qaeda and associated groups.”
According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen have resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,000 civilians since 2002. This number could be much higher given the limited government data published on drone killings.
On this point, Obama was less conciliatory, continuing to promote drone strikes as both an effective and legal anti-terror weapon in his policy speech. “These strikes have saved lives,” the president claimed.
Worldwide struggle
Twelve million people are stateless and 15 million people worldwide are currently registered as refugees due to conflict, according to the most current Amnesty statistics.
“The rights of millions of people who have escaped conflict and persecution, or migrated to seek work and a better life for themselves and their families, have been abused,” writes Amnesty International in a press release Thursday. “Governments around the world are accused of showing more interest in protecting their national borders than the rights of their citizens or the rights of those seeking refugee or opportunities within those borders.
The biggest conflict area nearly halfway through 2013 continues to be Syria, where millions have fled their homes as the civil war grinds on with no end in sight.
“The scale of the destruction is almost unimaginable where villages and towns destroyed, lives destroyed. The conflict has led around 4 million people to flee their homes, more than 1.4 million have left the country altogether and are now mainly in neighboring countries, many in refugee camps,” the report says.