Taylor taking advantage of state of emergency, says Amnesty

President Charles Taylor has taken advantage of a state of emergency to curtail the rights of Liberians, ranging from the right to life to the right of freedom of expression, Amnesty International (AI) said on Tuesday. The state of emergency, was declared on 8 February after claims by the Liberia government that armed fighters of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) group, were moving close to the capital, Monrovia, with the intention of overthrowing Taylor. "Governmental restrictions on freedom of expression and the harassment, ill-treatment and arbitrary arrests of government critics, journalists and human rights activists have increased substantially under the state of emergency. There is general confusion about the current situation and the exact nature of the perceived threat by the LURD due the fact that there are few independent and impartial sources of information," AI said. The report which highlights the “increased lack of protection for civilians since 8 February 2002”, urged the international community to take concrete steps to protect civilians, and called on the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Liberia to make the protection of human rights a priority. “Frequent raids in crowded markets and camps for internally displaced people have affected hundreds of young men and boys, many of Krahn and Mandingo ethnic origin, whom have been subject to arbitrary arrest, detention without charge or trial, and torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of Liberian security forces, who claim to be searching for ‘dissidents'. Torture, including rape of women and girls, continues to be reported by all parties to the conflict,” the AI report said. “Any suspension of the human rights provisions of the Liberian Constitution under the state of emergency would constitute a violation of Liberia's obligations under international human rights law,” the human rights watchdog said. AI, which detailed individual cases of abuses, also called on the international community to put pressure on the Guinean government to influence the LURD and other armed political groups to prevent human rights abuses by these groups. [The full report is available at www.amnesty.org]