Arab Organization for Human Rights:Human rights report on Arab world released [Archives:2003/647/Local News]

archive
July 3 2003

SANA'A- The 17th annual report of the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) covering the second half of 2002 and first half of 2003 was released on June 28.
The report followed closely the situation of public freedoms and human rights in the Arab world.
A detailed analytic introduction dealt with the international anti-terror campaign and its effects in the Arab region.
The report said that the human rights situation since 2002 witnessed major setbacks because of the global war against 'terrorism'.
This was mainly attributed to pressure exerted by the USA and other countries on Arab regimes to crack down on suspect groups and individuals. This was seen as a justification for the Arab governments to attack their political rivals.
The report said that the international anti-terror campaign was a means used by Western powers to put an end to the legitimate Palestinian resistance and uprising, which was classified by them as 'terrorism'.
“The support of the Arab regimes to the Palestinian resistance has been weakened because of US pressure on Arab governments to fight certain Islamic organizations.” The report said.
According to the report, the international legitimacy of the world order has been weakened by Israel and the US because of the war in Iraq and the Israeli human rights violations committed against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The USA has also been blamed in the report for violating human rights by trying to impose a political initiative -the Road Map- that could resume reconciliation on the basis of chronological order without the right of the return of Palestinian refugees, which would favor Israelis over Palestinians.
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