Fighting in Congo Endangers Refugees Human Rights

As fighting has increased in the Congo, human rights abuses have also increased, according to United Nations Human Right Commissioner, Navi Pillay. In particular, there has been an increase in looting by government soldiers and the murders and rapes that often accompanying these abuses. The Congo has long been one of the worst places in the world for civilians, particularly those living in the Goma area. With the increase in violence, the world faces a major humanitarian crisis if something isn't done soon. In the U.S., we need to call on our leaders--and whomever wins next week--to address this issue with both public statements and assistance as needed. The people of the Congo cannot endure much more abuse.

Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Others Adopt Online Code of Conduct

Led by Yahoo!, a group of large internet companies have adopted a human rights code of conduct to help protect free speech and the right to disagree with a country's policies. The policy is designed to encourage companies to resist aiding governments who want to crack down on free speech by dissidents, and to comply as narrowly as possible when they are compelled to do so.

In the past, companies have been criticized for their willingness to acceded to governments' demands. Now, however, with a code that says that individuals have a right to privacy, these companies will need to be more resistant when they are asked to limit speech or turn over surfing habits of dissidents.

Some human rights proponents are decrying the code of conduct as too limited. However, considering we had no agreement and no standards before this, I consider this to be a step in the right direction. Now we can hold companies up to a standard, and we can justifiably criticize them when they fail to meet their obligations. I hope, though, that far more often we will be praising companies for meeting their human rights obligations on the internet.

Georgia's Death-Penalty Process Criticized by Justice Stevens

I don't have much time to post today, but I wanted to point people to an interesting article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Hu Jia receives the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought

Hu Jia has won the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which is awarded by the European Parliament. European Parliament President Pottering said, "By awarding the Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia, the European Parliament firmly and resolutely acknowledges the daily struggle for freedom of all Chinese human rights defenders." Human Rights Watch has a useful chronology of the Hu case. In late 2007., Hu provided telephone testimony on China's human rights abuses to the European Parliament. For this testimony, Hu and his wife were arrested, tried and convicted of subverting state power. He was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

Hu has been a peaceful worker on behalf of Human Rights and environmental issues for many years. The Sakharov prize will hopefully help to return focus on his plight as a prisoner of conscience. Amnesty International is still encouraging people to write on his behalf (link is to a PDF).

Policeman who Tortured Suspects Charged with Perjury and Obstruction of Justice

Twenty years ago, Jon Burge was a police officer in Chicago's South Side. He is alleged to have taken part in torturing primarily black suspects in order to elicit confessions. He and other involved officers are reported to have subjected the suspects to the following forms of torture. They were beaten "with telephone books, suffocated with plastic typewriter covers, burned with cigarettes, threatened with mock executions, and suffered electric shocks to their genitals." Burge was acquitted on brutality charges, but was still fired by the Chicago Police Department. Allegations of torture were investigated, but the statute of limitations prevented charges from being filed against Burge.

Burge is now facing a federal indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice based on a deposition he gave in a civil suit by one of his victims. Burge may finally get the justice he so richly deserves.

Burge's place in history, though, is not just limited to some cases in the South Side of Chicago. It was in part due to his actions that Governor George Ryan cleared Illinois' death row after he became concerned about how some people were convicted. His tactics were also part of the impetus behind Barack Obama's proposal that all Police interrogations should be videotaped, which he made while a state legislator in Illinois. The case was even brought before the United Nations. Guantanamo and Abu Graib may be our country's most notorious examples of the use of torture, but it is unfortunately not the only one. We have to be vigilant not only on the international front, but close to home as well.

The Death Penalty for Crimes against Children

Among some supporters of the death penalty, there has been a call to expand the death penalty to crimes against children. Perhaps the most visible advocates have been Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie, who both spoke out in support of expanding the death penalty to include child abductions, rape and other horrific crimes against minors. These ideas don't reside only in Hollywood, however. Recently, Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers made the news when she called for the death penalty for anyone who killed a child.

The idea that crimes against children deserve a more harsh punishment is appealing on many levels. Jolie sums up the argument made most often: If it was my kid, "I'd want to go after" the killers. The rage we feel against those who perpetrate crimes against children is understandable. However, the revenge motive is not a motive for justice, and it does nothing to protect children. Putting someone to death for a crime against a child does not provide a deterrent, and the idea that getting the perpetrator off the street is served just as well by a life sentence as by a death sentence. We need to vigorously resist all calls to expand the death penalty, even in such emotional cases as crimes against children. Instead, we need to work on abolishing the death penalty while finding ways to reduce violence in our communities. That is the real way to keep children safe.

White House Approved Harsh Interrogation Tactics

I haven't posted in a long time, but I needed to write something about this article in the Washington Post. Officials in the White House and in the CIA have confirmed that the Bush administration gave written approval of harsh interrogation techniques, including water-boarding, in not one but TWO separate memos. The first was written in 2003 at George Tenant's request. The second came in 2004, also at Tenant's request, but after his departure from the CIA. In both cases, the CIA made a case to the administration that such techniques were the only way they could get information they needed out of the apprehended Al Queda suspects. Under pressure, the administration agreed to give them "cover" so that the White House couldn't distance itself from the CIA should a backlash against the tactics arise.

As we know, such a backlash did arise, and the administration has repeatedly attempted to distance itself from the harshest tactics used to question the detainees. They continue to down play and hide behind classified information while they continue to deny habeas corpus to the detainees. The revelation of these memos doesn't really tell us anything we didn't know before. However, it does attach certain people--most notably, Condi Rice--to the tactics. Such explicit knowledge should preclude Rice from any public service position for the rest of her life, if it doesn't land her in jail! Any aspirations to become President of the U.S. are now gone. She will forever be linked with this dark chapter in U.S. history.

Rice is not the only one besmirched by our countries willingness to torture. Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, and Gonzales will all be judged harshly by history, and rightfully so. But perhaps the biggest casualty of this whole sick affair, apart from the victims themselves, is to the reputation of the United States. We can no longer hold our standards up as those to be emulated, unless we want our own soldiers tortured, that is. We can no longer claim the moral high ground. All we can do is to try to rebuild our reputation in the coming years and decades. That is George Bush's legacy.