DUBLIN, January 13 (IslamOnline.net) – Amnesty International underlined that only two of the European Union's 15 members, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, have a clean human rights record.

In a report submitted Monday, January 12, to the current E.U. president, Ireland, the watchdog regretted human rights violations in European countries.

"The E.U. is failing to set the right example as far as human rights are concerned, leaving itself open to accusations of double standards which affect its international credibility, " said the 14-page document, titled Human Rights Begin at Home.

"The E.U.'s political will to implement policies, to put human rights into practice, appears to be on the wane… Human rights are violated in the E.U.'s own borders."

It added that Europe "is avoiding serious consideration of the impact of the "war on terror" on human rights."

Taking a case in point, Amnesty accused Britain of "serious human rights violations" in its responses to the 9-11 attacks.

The report stressed that "fighting terrorism…is being used as a pretext for the gross abuse of human rights and a general undermining rather than strengthening of the rule of international law."

The international watchdog also criticized Germany for the deportation of Chechens to Russia as well as charges by a Greek citizen that German police used electric shocks on him while he was in custody for a motoring offence.

"Amnesty International's regular reports show a common and disturbing pattern of abuse by law enforcement officials, including torture, ill-treatment and excessive use of force, regularly allowed to go unpunished and often with a clear discriminatory element, occurring in both old and new member states", said the report.

It also slammed Spain for the way it has dealt with suspected Basque terrorists.

The report accused European governments of pursuing tighter asylum legislation and lowering standards of refugee protection.

It added that commitment to the E.U.'s 2002 framework on combating racism and xenophobia is virtually non-existent, as work on it has been suspended since February 2003.

"Some current member states have so far failed to ratify this Framework Convention (Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), while France has not even signed," it elaborated.

The international watchdog also took issue with the recently drafted European security strategy.

Only Preaching

"The EU human rights machine appears to be running out of steam," said Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty's Brussels office.

"It is not enough for the E.U. to preach human rights abroad. Europe must look to itself first. Otherwise the E.U.'s human rights credibility in its international relations will always be called into question."

Amnesty recommended sanctions against countries guilty of human rights violations, adding "the main goal should be prevention."