In a new report issued by Amnesty International, the 2008 State of the Worlds Human Rights, it has painstakingly come to light that after sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that human rights still widely abused in dozens of countries. The forward of the report was entitled, “Broken Promises”, where it went straight to the point stating;
“World leaders owe an apology for failing to deliver on the promise of justice and equality in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted 60 years ago. In the past six decades, 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, which comes out annually stated that people "are still tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries, face unfair trials in at least 54 countries and are not allowed to speak freely in at least 77 countries." Countries with the most apparent violations included Zimbabwe, Myanmar and Sudan, all of which can be repeatedly seen littering the humanitarian news wires with report of violations, abuse or mistreatment their citizens.
“World leaders are in a state of denial but their failure to act has a high cost," Irene Khan, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said in the press release accompanying the report.
The report singled out many countries, including pointing to the United States for violations of Article 11, “Everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law”, at Guantanamo Bay. The report stated that, as "the world's most powerful state" it "sets the standard for government behavior globally." But, Amnesty International said, the United States had "distinguished itself in recent years through its defiance of international law." The US State Department has previously accused Amnesty International of using the United States as "a convenient ideological punching bag." (The New York Times).
Violations against children cross over into all areas of the report, however under the reports ‘Global Themes’ one area stands out more than others was Stop Violence Against Women, for which it highlights the disproportionate abuse against women and girls, including rape, domestic violence, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), etc. The report, while not disputing the significant progress made in the last sixty years, serves to illustrate the lack progress that has been made in many areas of human rights development and the long road that lies ahead if we are to work as a global world to eradicate human rights violations, especially against children.
