Human Rights Watch World Report 2005
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Human Rights Watch has their 2005 World Report available online. The report details human rights abuses the world over. Special attention is paid to the crisis in Darfur and the abuses committed by US forces in Abu Ghraib:
Among the myriad human rights challenges of 2004, two pose fundamental threats to human rights: the ethnic cleansing in Darfur and the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib. No one would equate the two, yet each, in its own way, has had an insidious effect. One involves indifference in the face of the worst imaginable atrocities, the other is emblematic of a powerful government flouting a most basic prohibition. One presents a crisis that threatens many lives, the other a case of exceptionalism that threatens the most fundamental rules. The vitality of the global defense of human rights depends on a firm response to each—on stopping the Sudanese government’s slaughter in Darfur and on changing the policy decisions behind the U.S. government’s torture and mistreatment of detainees.
Deeply concerning to people of faith must be the section of the report that declares that religions across the globe are increasingly standing in opposition to human rights:
Is there a schism between the human rights movement and religious communities? Essential disagreements appear increasingly to pit secular human rights activists against individuals and groups acting from religious motives. The list of contentious issues is growing: on issues such as reproductive rights, gay marriage, the fight against HIV/AIDS, and blasphemy laws, human rights activists and religious groups often find themselves on opposing sides. As illustrated by the Muslim headscarf debate in France and Turkey, controversies linked to religion also have confused many in the human rights movement and even led some activists to express strong reservations about certain public expressions of religious conscience.
The report does acknowledge that many religious groups are defenders of human rights. But the problems are there and need to be recognized. My hope is that HRW will work with leaders in different religious communities to better educate people of faith about the concerns raised in the report.
Human Rights Watch is a rare bird. They are beholden to nothing besides the cause of justice. I'll note that Alice Smith, my mother-in-law, is active with HRW's work in San Francisco.