Unite On Human Rights, Africa Told

Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)

12 July 2011

Nairobi — African countries should work in unity on issues pertaining to violations of human rights, a senior official of Human Rights Watch, Africa Division has advised.

Speaking in Nairobi at the official launch of the organization’s Report titled: Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and mistreatment of detainees, deputy Director, Mr. Aloys Habimana said in many cases the African continent has failed to work in unison on matters pertaining to human rights.

Citing the reported massive violations of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) despite the presence of the UN peace-keeping force there and the Sudan’s Bashir Verses ICC (International Criminal Court) issue, Mr Habimana said, “in many a time, the African countries have unfortunately failed to speak in unison.”

“That unity of the African countries on serious matters such as the violations of human rights is most needed but unfortunately not common,” added Mr. Habimana, who alongside with Neela Ghoshal, a researcher for East African region, launched the 107-page- report.

Mr. Habimana said there was no difference between torture committed in Africa, and that in America or elsewhere in the world over.

“There should be no discrimination when it comes to investigating the issue…there should be no double standards,” stressed Mr. Habimana.

“Civil society groups should always assist communities to bring out the issue of violations of human rights to the limelight and in line with others elsewhere on the continent,” added Neela Ghoshal.

In a press statement, read by Mr. Habimana, Human Rights Watch said the overwhelming evidence of torture by Bush administration obliged President Barrack Obama to order a criminal investigation into allegations of detainee abuse authorized by George W. Bush and other senior officials.

The report accused the Obama administration of failing to meet US obligations under the Convention against Torture, to investigate acts of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees.

“There are solid grounds to investigate Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Tenet for authorizing torture and war crimes,” says the report. President Obama, the report adds, has treated torture as an unfortunate policy choice rather than a crime. The US president’s decision to end abusive interrogation practices, the report warns, will remain easily reversible unless the legal prohibition against torture is clearly re-established.

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