Amnesty International's Report 2004: War on global values -- attacks by armed groups and governments....

(London) Governments and armed groups have launched a war on global values, destroying the human rights of ordinary people, Amnesty International said today as it released its annual assessment of human rights worldwide.

Launching the Amnesty International Report 2004, the organization said that violence by armed groups and increasing violations by governments have combined to produce the most sustained attack on human rights and international humanitarian law in 50 years. This was leading to a world of growing mistrust, fear and division.

The report after condemning armed groups such as Al-Quida for crimes under international and domestic law, amounting at times to war crimes and crimes against humanity, continues with condemning the powerful governments and the US in particular:

"The global security agenda promoted by the US Administration is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle. Violating rights at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad and using pre-emptive military force where and when it chooses has damaged justice and freedom, and made the world a more dangerous place."

The report details unlawful killings of civilians by Coalition troops and armed groups in Iraq. Reports of torture and ill-treatment underline the vulnerability of hundreds of prisoners, not only in Iraq but also at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, Afghanistan and elsewhere, incarcerated by the United States and its allies without charge, trial, or access to lawyers or protection of the Geneva Conventions.

"By failing to protect the rights of those who may be guilty, governments endanger the rights of those who are innocent, and put us all at risk."

Hidden from the eyes of the world, Report 2004 documents festering internal conflicts in places like Chechnya, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Nepal which have become a breeding ground of some of the worst atrocities. Violence in Israel and the Occupied Territories has deepened, while elsewhere many governments are openly pursuing repressive agendas. Read more.