U.S. report rights abuses

U.S. report rights abuses

WASHINGTON (Agencies): The United States yesterday issued its annual human rights report which strongly criticized conditions in many Asian countries including Indonesia.

The State Department's 1996 annual report contained a review of human rights conditions in 194 countries and territories.

The report alleged that Indonesia continued to commit serious human rights abuses in 1996, including in East Timor.

Authorities maintained a tight grip on the political process, legal protections against torture were inadequate and security forces continued to torture and mistreat detainees in region such as Irian Jaya and East Timor, the State Department said in its report.

"The (Indonesian) government continued to commit serious human rights abuses," the report said.

In East Timor, "there were further instances of killings, disappearances, torture and excessive use of force by the military and insurgents," it said.

"Respected observers noted a decrease in serious incidents but 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Bishop Belo said that it would be a mistake to conclude that the human rights environment in East Timor was improving," the report said.

The report also faulted the government for continuing "to impose severe limitations on freedom of assembly and association" and said that "in anticipation of the 1997 parliamentary elections, the government took a number of actions to intimidate political opponents."

The report yesterday also heaped criticism on the military junta that rules Myanmar with an iron fist and on Vietnam.

The report said South Korea's reliance on the National Security Law "infringes" on its citizens rights.

It further highlighted India and Pakistan as continuing a pattern of minority repression.

The report then accused China of effectively silencing in 1996 all public dissent against the communist party and the government.

In its report, the State Department concluded that "no dissidents were known to be active at year's end."

"The Chinese government in 1996 continued to commit widespread and well-documented human rights abuses, in violation of internationally-accepted norms, stemming from the authorities' intolerance of dissent, fear of unrest and the continuing absence of laws protecting basic freedoms," the report said.