Throwing stones from a glass house: View of US # & human rights violations from CIA torture report and the police killings of unarmed African-American men in Staten Island, Ferguson and elsewhere. Iran’s foreign ministry also recently deplored the United States “flagrant and systematic violation of the rights of its minorities.” The first reaction might be incredulity; after all, the Iranian authorities are guilty of many of the same violations committed by the U.S. government. Those who are arrested and detained in Iran, including prisoners of conscience, are subjected to brutal torture and ill-treatment in custody. This is especially true of members of Iran’s own ethnic minorities, including Kurds, Arabs and Baluchis who are accused of politically motivated offenses. Iran’s own record of discrimination against its ethnic and religious minorities is nothing short of unconscionable. But this is also an opportunity for us to reflect on the universality of human rights—the bedrock principle that undergirds the work of Amnesty International. We can only be effective if we condemn human rights whenever and wherever they take place. No one is given a pass. That is why it is so important that Amnesty International and its activists, including those in the US section, speak out against human rights violations in our home, the United States. There are many reasons for doing so, but one certainly is that it guarantees that we have legitimacy and credibility when we criticize violations in countries that, like Iran, maintain poor relations with the U.S. government. This way the Iranian authorities cannot weasel out of facing up to their human rights record by claiming that they are being unfairly singled out. In fact, Iran even cites Amnesty International reports, for instance Amnesty’s recent reports on Israeli human right violations in Gaza.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:39:42 +0000
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