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HRW: Increasing extremism result of so-called 'War on Terror'

February 3, 2015 at 2:05 pm

In its annual report, Human Rights Watch blamed the emergence of a number of notorious terror groups on human rights violations.

The report reflects extensive investigative work that Human Rights Watch staff undertook in 2014 in 90 countries.

In his keynote, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth reflects on a year so tumultuous: “It can seem as if the world is unravelling.”

“There has been a tendency, particularly in the Middle East, to play short-sighted security concerns over principled support for human rights”, said Kenneth. The report mentioned the “persecution” of the Sunni Muslims in Iraq during the reign of the former PM.

According to Roth, many governments “appear to have concluded that today’s serious security threats must take precedence over human rights.”

“In this difficult moment, they seem to argue, human rights must be put on the back burner, a luxury for less trying times,” Roth said.

The watchdog organisation has also criticised the “shamefully inadequate” response to the repression conducted by the government of Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi in Egypt, who ousted the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi.

“Support for the Sisi leadership sends an appalling message to the region,” Roth said.

Roth reiterated: “ISIS can now credibly argue that violence is the only path to power for Islamists because when they sought power through fair elections and won, they were ousted with little international protest.”

The report surveyed several of the year’s most daunting security challenges, including the rise of the extremist group Islamic State (ISIS), China’s crackdown on Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and Mexico’s abuse-riddled war on drugs.

Roth stresses the important role that human rights violations played in stimulating and aggravating those crises.