World Human Rights Failings

[Oneword]

-- Six decades after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations, governments around the world are failing their citizens and abusing or repressing their rights with frightening frequency, Amnesty International said in its latest annual report, released May 28.

"World leaders owe an apology for failing to deliver on the promise of justice and equality. . . . Many governments have shown more interest in the abuse of power or in the pursuit of political self-interest, than in respecting the rights of those they lead," the report said.

Amnesty International found that citizens of 81 countries still face torture or ill-treatment from government officials. People in more than four-dozen countries face the prospect of unfair trials, while the right to free speech is not protected in 77 countries.

Countries that came in for particularly blunt criticism included the Sudan, Burma, China, Russia, the United States, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. The group called on the United States to close down its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and to do more to set a higher standard for government behavior. China needs to do more to honor promises it made ahead of the Beijing Olympics to improve human rights, AI said, while Russia needs to demonstrate greater tolerance for dissent.

Juliette Terzieff is a journalist who specializes in human rights