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U.S. Says 'Serious Violations' Of Human Rights Continued In 2009

March 11, 2010

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. State Department says in its annual human rights report that many governments worldwide continued to perpetrate grave rights violations.

The State Department highlighted three major trends which defined violations of human rights in 2009, the first of which is "an alarming number of reports of torture, extrajudicial killings, and other violations of universal human rights."

The second trend, the report said, was that in many countries, governments applied "new and often draconian restrictions" on NGOs. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner told journalists in Washington today that since 2008, 25 countries have further limited the ability of NGOs to register, operate freely, or receive foreign funding.

"No less than 25 governments in the last couple of years have imposed new restrictions on nongovernmental, human rights, and other organizations -- the right to organize, the right to assemble, the right to gather and collect funds from abroad," Posner said.

The report said human rights activists have been singled out for "particularly harsh treatment," sometimes resulting in death. It said these actions extended to the traditional media as well as to Internet and other new technologies.

The third trend which the document highlighted was "the continuing and escalating discrimination and persecution of members of vulnerable groups. Those groups include racial, religious, or ethnic minorities, but also women, members of indigenous communities, and other "vulnerable groups that lack the political power in their societies to defend their own interests."

Abuses In Russia

Dealing with violations on a country-by-country basis, the U.S. State Department said Russia's record on human rights remained flawed in 2009, and that the presidential election in 2008 was, in its words, "neither fair nor free."

It also pointed to what it called "direct and indirect government interference" in regional and local elections.

While civilian authorities mostly maintained control of Russia's military, the State Department says, that was not the case in the North Caucasus.

The document also cites many reports of human rights problems at the hands of the government and others, as well as police abuses and corruption, harsh prison conditions, and the killings of human rights activists and investigative journalists.

As a result of violence and the harassment of reporters, the report says, news in Russia is self-censored. It also reports continued extra-judicial killings in the North Caucasus, where Moscow is fighting insurgents.

Belarus Scores ‘Very Poor’

Although Belarus has a bicameral national legislature and a governing cabinet under a prime minister, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has directly run all the country's institutions since he was elected president in 1994, the State Department said.

It says Belarus human rights record remained -- in its words -- "very poor" in 2009, as Lukashenka has undermined the rule of law and manipulated elections since 1994, and that the parliamentary vote in September 2008 didn't meet international standards.

The report says civilian leaders effectively maintained control of the country's military, but adds that members of the armed forces nevertheless commit human rights abuses.

For example, the Minsk government couldn't account for politically motivated disappearances, the document says, while prisoners are abused in government custody, and prison conditions are extremely poor.

The government also maintained the practice of arresting and imprisoning its citizens for such political crimes as criticizing state officials or joining demonstrations.

Civil liberties also were strictly curtailed in 2009, including freedoms of the press, speech, assembly, association, and religion. Corruption also was a problem in Belarus during 2009.

The report also highlighted discrimination against the ethnic Polish population and Roma. It said authorities continued to harass the unrecognized Union of Poles, its head Anzhelika Borys, and her associates.

Progress In Ukraine

The State Department report states that Ukraine is a democracy whose parliamentary elections have been widely viewed as free and fair, and its military is properly controlled by the country's civilian leadership.

Nevertheless, the report says, human rights problems persist two decades after Ukraine achieved independence from the Soviet Union. The document points to what it calls reports of "serious police abuse," including the beating and even torture of people in custody.

Prison conditions are also harsh, the report says, and pretrial detention is long and arbitrary. The country's judiciary is corrupt, and corruption is widespread in the government and throughout society.

Furthermore, anti-Semitism is not uncommon, according to the study.

The document cites instances of violence and discrimination against women, children, homosexuals, Roma, Crimean Tatars, and people of what the document called "non-Slavic appearance."

It highlights human trafficking as another serious problem. Limits also were put on workers' ability to join trade unions.

On a positive note, the report says 2009 saw the establishment of an office to fight corruption, and another to keep better track of hate crimes.

Grim Report For Iran

The report states that Iran's poor human rights record only got worse during 2009.

It points to the June 12 presidential election, in which the government says President Mahmud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in spite of the doubts of many Iranians.

Iran’s “already poor human right situation rapidly deteriorated after the June elections,” Posner said. “At least 45 people were killed in clashes. Thousands were arrested. Another thousand were arrested in demonstrations in December. It is a place where we are continuing to see severe repression of dissent and are continuing to pay great attention."

Aside from the election, the report says prison conditions in Iran often were unacceptable, and that prisoners often were held in solitary confinement and otherwise abused.

The government also waged a crackdown against advocates for the rights of women, ethnic minorities, student activists, and religious minorities, the report says, and severely restricted its citizens' privacy and access to a free news media.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/US_Says_Serious_Violations_Of_Human_Rights_Continued_In_2009/1981237.html

Copyright (c) 2010. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.