Commonwealth Nations Assailed on Human Rights

VANCOUVER, Canada — The Commonwealth heads of government, gathering for what has become a biennial attack on South Africa’s apartheid system, came under attack Sunday for “deplorable” and widespread violations of human rights.

Amnesty International, a private agency that monitors human rights practices around the world, charged that two-thirds of the Commonwealth, made up of Britain and its former colonies and dominions, systematically engage in abuses ranging from torture to illegal detention.

Pointing out that the Commonwealth has been on record since 1971 as condemning human rights violations, Amnesty International said in a detailed report that “we are not encouraged by the evidence” that the organization’s members are ending “violations of those rights they claim to respect.”

The Commonwealth heads of government meet every two years to deal with common concerns, although increasingly the sessions have been dominated by attacks on South Africa’s policy of racial separation and by demands that the wealthier nations impose economic sanctions on the Pretoria government.

33 Members Criticized

However, Amnesty International, without equating apartheid with other human rights violations, said that 33 of the 49 Commonwealth members fail “to respect the fundamental human rights” called for by international law.

The Commonwealth Journalists Assn., in a separate action, charged that many Commonwealth members restricted press freedom and harassed, intimidated, imprisoned and murdered journalists. It did not name the members concerned.

In a statement issued in London, the association, which has about 250 members drawn from all parts of the Commonwealth, urged delegates here to give urgent attention to the abuses.

Amnesty International’s 14-page report detailed documented instances of torture, detentions without trial of people arrested “because of their political or religious beliefs,” increased use of the death penalty and arbitrary violence by officials.

Roger Clark, an Amnesty International official, said a new concern is the trend among Commonwealth nations, including such members as Canada, to close their borders to refugees fleeing human rights abuses.

The report said there is “often a direct correlation between a country’s human rights record and the numbers of people fleeing its borders.”

It then went on to say that “a flood of refugees has poured out of Commonwealth countries in recent years.”

S. Africa Foes Criticized

Some of the worst abuses reported by Amnesty International take place in those African states most aggressive in attacking apartheid and calling for Western sanctions against South Africa.

Kenya, for instance, was charged with “a deliberate program to silence or intimidate its political opponents,” including torture of detainees by keeping them in waterlogged, underground cells until their skin rots.

Nigeria was accused of public executions in which victims were killed “by successive volleys of bullets fired at intervals, starting with shots aimed at the ankles” and proceeding upwards.

Zimbabwe and Zambia, two so-called front-line states for their proximity to South Africa, were singled out for illegally detaining large numbers of political opponents and then torturing the prisoners.