Amnesty highlights "hidden and forgotten crises" in new report

Rampant violence and human rights violations in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are among the world's "hidden and forgotten crises" according to the latest annual report by human rights NGO Amnesty International issued on Wednesday. In Burundi, Amnesty reported that government forces carried out extrajudicial killings, "disappearances", torture and other serious violations, while armed groups unlawfully killed, maimed, abducted and tortured civilians in pursuit of their political aims. Furthermore, armed belligerents in Burundi continued to recruit, at times forcefully, child combatants. In the DRC, the human rights situation remained bleak, according to Amnesty, with continuing fighting and attacks on civilians, particularly in the east. "In the Great Lakes region too, those perpetuating human rights abuses continue to enjoy impunity," Amnesty stated. The Amnesty International Report 2003 documents human rights abuses in 151 countries and territories during 2002, and focuses on the dilemma of increased insecurity worldwide even as nations have stepped up security efforts in the "war on terror". "Governments around the world have spent billions in an effort to beef up national security and the 'war on terror', but for millions of people the real sources of insecurity were corrupt and inept systems of policing and justice; brutal repression of political dissent; severe discrimination and social inequities; extreme poverty and the spread of preventable diseases," Amnesty said. "The 'war on terror', far from making the world a safer place, has made it more dangerous by curtailing human rights, undermining the rule of international law and shielding governments from scrutiny," Amnesty continued. "It has deepened divisions among people of different faiths and origins, sowing the seeds for more conflict. The overwhelming impact of all this is genuine fear -- among the affluent as well as the poor." Amnesty also highlighted Afghanistan, Chechnya, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Israel and the Occupied Territories, and Nepal as being among the human rights crises most neglected by the international community. The report does, however, note a number of human rights successes that occurred during 2002, such as the establishment of the International Criminal Court, "which marked a breakthrough in the struggle against impunity for the worst crimes known to humanity", Amnesty stated. The report is available online at www.amnesty.org