Amnesty International is increasingly concerned with human rights abuses in the US since September 11th.
At the publication of the organisation's annual report 2002 in Dublin today, Ms Cathy Bachman, a board member of Amnesty in America, said people of all backgrounds and colours worked together after September 11th. "Unfortunately that solidarity didn’t last for long," she said.
Ms Bachman spoke of incidences of racial profiling - where police stop someone purely because of their colour or ethnic background - in the US. She said although President Clinton had signed a bill outlawing the practice, there was now pressure on President Bush to rescind this, with 14 states calling for it since September 11th.
"Bush’s war against terrorism also became a green light for the US to do whatever it pleased," she said. Ms Bachman said that there has not been a lot of domestic resistance to changes made in America since September 11th. "Much of the support for Bush and his policies came from fear".
However, Ms Bachman said that September 11th has led to an increased awareness among Americans as to what is happening in the rest of the world.
The report says that following September 11th, "a number of governments jumped on the ‘anti-terrorism’ bandwagon and seized the moment to step up repression, undermine human rights protection and stifle political dissent".
Ms Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, said: "The universality of human rights is facing the strongest challenge yet. Double-standards and selectivity are becoming the norm".
