Persberichtenoverzicht

As Liberians finally prepare to elect a new government following almost two decades of conflict characterized by gross violations of human rights by all sides, Amnesty International warned that the prospects for peace in Liberia are still under threat, in a new report published today entitled Liberia: Violence, discrimination and impunity.

Amnesty International condemns the apparent capitulation of world leaders to pressure from a small minority of states leading to the exclusion of almost all meaningful human rights reforms from debate at tomorrow's UN Summit in New York.

The proposed text on the Human Rights Council is woefully inadequate in failing to call for minimum elements essential for an improved and more authoritative human rights body. It offers people around the world little more than the discredited Commission on Human Rights with a different name.

The lack of transparency in the application of the Justice and Peace Law will only boost impunity in Colombia, said Amnesty International after reports that 38 members of the guerrilla group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia will be the first beneficiaries of the legislation.

The Justice and Peace law grants procedural benefits, such as significantly reduced prison sentences, to members of illegal armed groups who are implicated in human rights abuses and who have agreed to demobilize.

The $US 4.2billion Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline risks freezing human rights protection for decades to come for the thousands of people who live in its path, says Amnesty International in a new report published today (7 September).

"The ExxonMobil-led consortium that operates the pipeline is effectively side-stepping human rights law in Chad and in Cameroon," said Andrea Shemberg, legal advisor to Amnesty International UK.