London-based human rights group Amnesty International (AI) has criticized the trend of “politics of fear” in many parts of the world that corrodes the promotion of human rights and consequently, generating a dangerously divided world.
During the launch of Amnesty International Report 2007, the group said powerful government and armed groups are deliberately fomenting fear to erode human rights and to create an increasingly polarized society.
AI secretary general Irene Khan said governments are undermining the rule of law and human rights through short-sighted, fear-mongering, and divisive policies that include feeding racism and xenophobia, dividing communities, intensifying inequalities and sowing the seeds for more violence and conflict.
“The politics of fear is fueling a downward spiral of human rights abuse in which no right is sacrosanct and no person safe,” Khan said.
In its annual assessment of human rights worldwide, the AI recapped and highlighted certain events in many countries.
For the Philippines, the AI mentioned the Arroyo administration’s declaration of a state of emergency in February 2006 in response to alleged coup plots, abolition of death penalty, conduct of the Mindanao peace process, and counter-insurgency efforts, even containing the cases of political killings. – Katherine Adraneda