|
US 'still has moral authority'
18/05/2004 08:25 - (SA)
Washington - Facing international criticism for American abuse of Iraqi prisoners, the Bush administration is highlighting its efforts to advance human rights and democracy in 101 countries, Iraq included.
The US State Department on Monday released its second annual report on the government's activities to promote freedom of the press and religion, foster vibrant, stable democracies, and halt torture and child labour, among other abuses.
The report was to have been released on May 5, during the same week when the world was reacting with indignation to the disclosure that Iraqi prisoners in US custody were being mistreated.
The State Department withheld the report in hopes that additional time would create a more receptive climate for the chronicling of American deeds overseas.
But Secretary of State Colin Powell said the prisoner abuse issue was a key item in his weekend discussions with foreign leaders at an international economic conference in Jordan.
"In their disappointment about America right now, I told them, 'Watch America, watch how we deal with this, watch how America will do the right thing'," Powell said.
Powell, who delivered the commencement address on Monday at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said he had promised other leaders "multiple investigations" to get to the bottom of the scandal.
In Iraq, the report said, the United States, working with other countries and international organisations, has sought "to address the effects of decades of political repression and human rights violations".
"The US human rights and democracy strategy has promoted Iraqi efforts to account for past atrocities, prevent future human rights abuses and support institutions conducive to a successful transition to democracy," it said.
Lorne Craner, the State Department's top human rights official, said the foreign reaction to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal has not been uniformly negative.
Some websites in China have noted that American leaders have apologised for the wrongdoing and have not interfered with the freedom of the US media to report developments, Craner told reporters.
He said the Abu Ghraib incidents have not robbed the United States of the moral authority to expose excesses by undemocratic governments.
"Who would be better off if we self-consciously turned inward and ignored human rights abuses elsewhere, in places like Burma and Zimbabwe and Belarus?" Craner asked as he released the report.
The report attempts to show what the administration has been doing in response to rights abuses outlined in an annual country-by-country study.
Craner cited Georgia as an example of a country where, with US help, a democratic breakthrough occurred earlier this year.
A freely elected government took power in Georgia in January after a popular uprising forced the removal of the predecessor government, accused of staging a fraudulent parliamentary election last year.
|
News
