Anti-terror efforts hurting minorities worldwide: watchdog

The Bush administration's self-styled "war on terror" is undermining the rights of minority ethnic groups at home and abroad, according to a new assessment from a watchdog and advocacy group specializing in the rights of marginalized communities. "The war on terror has produced areas of grave concern," Mark Lattimer, executive director of Minorities Rights Group International, told reporters at a news conference on Jan. 19 to launch the organization's "State of the World Minorities 2006" report. The 215-page study, described as the first of its kind, says legislation to counter terrorism in the United States and Canada has had a negative impact on people of Middle Eastern and South Asian heritage. It follows on the heels of Human Rights Watch's latest annual world report, in which the prominent watchdog warns that torture and mistreatment of prisoners have been deliberate parts of US antiterrorism strategy and have undermined human rights worldwide. According to Human Rights Watch's report released on Jan. 18, the tactics are illegal and are "fueling terrorist recruitment, discouraging public assistance of counterterrorism efforts, and creating a pool of unprosecutable detainees." The minority rights report says controversial legislation such as the USA PATRIOT Act, which allows "indefinite detentions" for terrorism suspects, has forced many Arab and Muslim families to leave North America for their home countries. Additionally, the existing material witness law has deprived these communities of their civil rights, the group says. The law is based on the notion that if a court believes a witness's information to be "material" to a criminal case, the witness can be locked up, but only for the time necessary for deposition. However, according to the group's researchers, since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Department of Justice has "manipulated" this law by securing indefinite detentions of people whom the government wanted to investigate as possible terrorist suspects. As a result, the document says, the US government has imprisoned at least 70 men–all but one Muslim, at least three-quarters US citizens, and 64 of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent. The study suggests that the US-led "global war on terror" also is being used to suppress minorities in places like Afghanistan and Russia's northern Caucasus. It details how state authorities in many other regions are abusing the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. "Around the world, civilians from minority communities are being prosecuted, tortured, and killed," Lattimer told reporters. "Outrageously, some governments justify these practices as their contribution to the 'war on terror,'" he said. The study places Iraq on top of the list of 15 countries where people from minority communities face the acute threat of persecution, discrimination and mass killings. In addition to continued tensions between Muslims from the Shia and Sunni sects, it notes that both the US-backed government in Baghdad and rebel groups fighting the occupying forces continue to inflict harm on smaller communities. "Following a flawed constitutional process and violence that has continued throughout December's elections, Iraqi Shia, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkmen, [and] Christians were found to be under greatest threat when assessed against indicators relating to political violence, group division, democracy and governance," the report says. It names Sudan as the place where minorities have the greatest reason to fear violence and persecution. Other countries said to be the most serious violators of minority rights include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Angola, Ivory Coast, Uganda and Ethiopia. The study also names Afghanistan, Burma, Indonesia, Russia and the Philippines as places where ethnic and religious minorities suffer acutely from persecution and violence at the hands of state authorities and politically dominant groups. As for Europe, the study finds that "Muslim minorities have experienced an increase in police profiling and police violence since September 2001." Noting violations in South America, the authors say the term "terrorist" has in many places replaced "communist" as a label to justify suppression of the basic rights of indigenous people, and to avoid dialogue over issues such as land and resources, which communities native to the region have been demanding of settler-dominated national governments. Some senior United Nations officials welcomed the London-based minority rights group's report, describing it as a major new contribution to the world body's knowledge about violations of minorities' rights. "From the Americas to Europe to Asia to Africa, we can see the degradation in the rights of minorities threatens the security of whole societies," said Gay McDougall, the UN independent expert on minority issues. "The prompt prevention of genocide or other mass violations require us to be much more aware of the ongoing situation faced by minorities," Juan Mendez, special advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, wrote in the study's preface. Mendez said the world body is seeking comprehensive approaches to minority issues while serving the cause of justice and democracy for whole societies. Mendez and other UN officials are exploring whether a new international treaty could prove useful in protecting the rights of minorities globally.