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U.N. Rights Chief, Ex-U.S. President Criticize U.S. Anti-Terror Moves
With additional reporting by Ayesha Ahmad, IOL Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - United Nations human rights chief Mary Robinson and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in separate statements have expressed grave concern over new anti-terrorism legislation, cautioning against the erosion of American democratic values, news agencies reported Friday.
In a rare criticism of the current president by a predecessor during a time of crisis, Carter slammed Bush's military order authorizing the trial of suspected terrorists captured during the "war against terror" by secret military courts, saying that it defies the basic principles on which the United States is founded, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"Every one of those principles is missing in the present existing order issued by the White House concerning uniform and concerning military trials," he said during a conference Thursday at the University of San Diego.
Speaking at the newly dedicated Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, Carter also deplored the secretive detention of more than 600 people in the United States following the September 11 terror strikes on U.S. targets.
"I'm deeply concerned by some of the orders that have been given by the president and some of the actions taken already by the attorney general," he said.
He said he was disturbed that authorities were "holding people, hundreds of them, without public notice of their names, without the opportunity to have a lawyer and without [their having] been confronted with specific allegations of crimes that they committed."
He stressed that the right of a prisoner to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a fair public trial was a basic tenet of the universal declaration of human rights that must be followed.
Meanwhile, Robinson said that U.S. assurances about secret military tribunals were not enough, and warned the U.S. against undermining democratic guarantees that must be upheld even in a crisis.
Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the U.S. was defying its own system of checks and balances, including the right to fair trial, in a manner that went beyond the limits allowed by international human rights law in an emergency.
"One of the safeguards of democracy is eternal vigilance, it is that we cannot cease to be vigilant, and in that sense no, it is not enough to say to trust me as a government - that is a complete undermining of the safeguards that are rightly upheld and subscribed to," Robinson said.
On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft defended the order during a Senate committee hearing and said critics were undercutting the struggle against terrorism.
He told his critics, "Your tactics only aid the terrorists," said Ashcroft, "they give ammunition to America's enemies and give pause to America's friends."
Ashcroft said that all anti-terror moves taken by the administration were made with "reason, careful balance and excruciating attention to detail… Each action taken by the Department of Justice [and the War Commission] is carefully drawn to target a narrow class of individuals - terrorists."
Robinson reiterated that the deadly attacks on New York and Washington on September 11 were crimes against humanity and warranted special measures.
But she said the "broad reach" and "vaguely worded" nature of the President's order undermined human rights provisions that should be upheld even in a crisis.
"I'm told that it's too soon to judge what will happen in practice and the U.S. will hold to its strong tradition of rule of law," she said, "but I think it is worrying that there are not the safeguards in the military ordered issued by the President."
The U.N. High Commissioner said the order "could pose a direct or indirect threat to the protection of certain fundamental rights relating to proof, arbitrary arrest and detention, and the right to liberty and security" as well as to fair trial.
Robinson also said she was very worried at the emergence of "a new type" of racial profiling in the arrests of terror suspects in the U.S.
"The concern expressed to me was that there was a targeting of certain nationalities and even those who looked Arab or were from Arab countries, those who looked South Asian - that is worrying."
The U.N.'s concerns also extend to Afghanistan where Robinson said countries backing Afghan forces had a duty to exert "strong deterrence" to ensure that human rights were upheld.
She backed calls by human rights group for an investigation into what happened at the prison complex in Mazar-e-Sharif where about 600 Taliban fighters were killed. Some, she said, were found with their arms tied behind their back.
Humanitarian needs such as food deliveries also warranted immediate attention, Robinson said.
"That's a human right and not just a humanitarian need and I think we need to keep emphasizing the importance of access and that being more important than any short term military strategy."
Robinson said her office still had to work out what role it could play in Afghanistan under the Bonn Declaration setting up a new Afghan administration. It notably allows for a U.N. investigation into human rights violations.
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