U.S. Gives Aid to Rights Abusers, Group Charges
A human rights group said Tuesday that the U.S. government has systematically provided military aid to countries with poor human rights records--a violation of U.S. law.
The report by the London-based Amnesty International said the government has ignored a legal provision that bars security assistance to countries that show a consistent pattern of gross human rights violations.
The report does not recommend an outright suspension of military aid to any specific countries but says the United States should “seriously assess” its assistance to countries that fail to protect human rights.
Ironically, the Amnesty International report came out on the same day that an influential group of Japanese scholars and executives in Tokyo denounced what it called Washington’s “excessive human rights diplomacy.”
In a report presented to Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, the Japan International Forum said that the United States should stop pressing human rights issues in developing Asian countries.
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