Amnesty International Report 2007

Amnesty International's annual report on human rights states that policies like those linked to the "war on terror" are creating a more polarised and dangerous world.

This year's report intelligently uses all available technologies: print, web, audio, photos and video (including YouTube).

Irene Khan, Amnesty International's Secretary General, declared in her introductory comments in the report that governments are either too weak-willed to prevent the "downward spiral of human rights abuses" or are encouraging it.

"Human rights - those global values, universal principles and common standards that are meant to unite us - are being bartered away in the name of security today as they were then. Like the Cold War times, the agenda is being driven by fear - instigated, encouraged and sustained by unprincipled leaders".

"Fear can be a positive imperative for change, as in the case of the environment, where alarm about global warming is forcing politicians belatedly into action. But fear can also be dangerous and divisive when it breeds intolerance, threatens diversity and justifies the erosion of human rights".

On a related note, the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit investigative journalism foundation, has just come out with the report Collateral Damage that shows how "the influence of foreign lobbying on the U.S. government, as well as a shortsighted emphasis on counterterrorism objectives over broader human rights concerns, have generated staggering costs to the U.S. and its allies in money spent and political capital burned".