The New York Times

Thursday, December 9, 1999

Human Rights Watch Sees New Era in Fighting Abuses

By Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - This year marked the start of a ``new era'' for human rights after the international community deployed troops to stop atrocities, arrested a former dictator accused of past abuses and indicted a sitting head of state on ethnic cleansing charges, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

``These trends mark the beginning of a new era for the human rights movement,'' the group said in its annual ``World Report.''

``Today, tyrants are increasingly likely to be indicted.''

Human Rights Watch said ``significant progress'' was made toward an international system of justice, citing the case against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, which was moving through British courts, and the indictment of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Government leaders who committed crimes against humanity ''faced a greater chance of prosecution and even military intervention,'' said the report, which covered events from November 1998 through October 1999.

Pinochet was arrested in London in October 1998 at the request of a Spanish judge who wants to try him on charges of torture allegedly committed during his 1973-90 rule in Chile. A British magistrate said he could be extradited, but Pinochet's lawyers have appealed.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia issued the first indictment of a sitting head of state against Milosevic, the report said.

``Not only international tribunals but also national courts showed a greater willingness to prosecute severe human rights crimes committed outside their nation's borders,'' it said.

The ``most dramatic development'' this year was the deployment of troops by the international community to stop crimes against humanity in East Timor and Kosovo, the report said.

Criticism that military interventions have been selective and the international community has ignored abuses in Angola, Colombia, Chechnya or Sudan, should not be a reason to ``deny a helping hand to people facing mass slaughter'' just because similar action may not be taken elsewhere, the report said.

``Instead, the international community must address its troubling tendency to ignore atrocities in certain regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa,'' the report said.

The organization cited ``an evolution in public morality'' as a key factor behind progress made on the human rights front.

``More than at any time in recent history, the people of the world today are unwilling to tolerate severe human rights abuses and insistent that something be done to stop them,'' it said.

AROUND THE WORLD

The 517-page report analyzed the human rights situation in various countries around the world.

-- AFRICA. ``This year saw no seismic shifts for the better for human rights prospects in the continent.'' But the backdrop improved due to a switch to civilian from military rule in Nigeria and a second successful democratic election in South Africa, the report said.

-- LATIN AMERICA. Arrest of Pinochet ``rekindled hopes for victims of human rights abuses around the world.'' But Colombia showed that an elected civilian government did not necessarily result in the protection of human rights, with the armed conflict there showing ``no signs of abating,'' the report said.

-- ASIA. ``Human rights fared poorly in Asia during the year,'' especially in East Timor where militias left the area in ruins and almost its entire population uprooted, the report said. Pakistan and Afghanistan failed to uphold women's rights, and violence against women was a ``pervasive'' problem in the region. Corruption was a major obstacle in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, China and Pakistan, the report said.

-- EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA. ``Massive'' abuses in Kosovo, renewal of Russia's military campaign against Chechnya, and a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Central Asia were dominant themes. The report said the West had been so eager to support Russian President Boris Yeltsin's 1996 re-election campaign it gave Russia financial benefits without requiring leaders be held accountable for abuses during the 1994-1996 war in Chechnya. ``When Russia began air strikes over Chechnya in September, the international community, having been complicit in creating a climate of impunity for Russian military abuses following the previous Chechen war, could faint be heard.''

-- MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA. Human rights issues were publicly voiced in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and by Palestinian activists, the report said. But political dissent was not tolerated in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria, Iraq and Libya. In Iraq there were frequent reports of ``mass summary executions'' of prisoners, the report said. In Israel the report cited ``widespread and systematic discrimination'' against ethnic and religious minorities and women.

-- UNITED STATES. President Clinton issued an executive order affirming the U.S. commitment to honor its obligations under international human rights treaties but little progress was apparent, the report said. Most public officials were either ignorant of or ignored human rights obligations. The report cited ``brutal'' police and prison officers, discrimination against minorities, executions of juvenile offenders and the mentally ill, and overcrowded, violent prisons increasingly populated by racial minorities who had committed nonviolent crimes.