US: Outgoing UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson has defended her frequently outspoken criticism of the United States for allegedly bending the rules on rights and civil liberties in the wake of September 11th.
Speaking to journalists on her penultimate day in office, the former Irish president said many countries had used the suicide plane hijackings that killed more than 3,000 people as a pretext for new security laws which violated international human rights norms.
But the United States had a duty to set high standards because others used its lapses as an excuse for abuse, she said. "It was necessary to criticise first of all the United States . . . because when I criticise some [other] countries, people say look at what is happening in the United States," Ms Robinson told journalists, speaking in French.
"The norms [post September 11th] have changed. I say with a lot of force that the norms and standards cannot change. This cannot happen."
Ms Robinson, who will be replaced by Brazilian UN veteran Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, has frequently incurred the wrath of Washington with her objections to the treatment of al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners being held at a US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
She has also echoed the criticisms of human rights activists at the US rounding-up of hundreds of people of mainly Middle Eastern origin following the attacks in New York and Washington and their being held for long periods without trial.
Ms Robinson, who calls the plane hijackings a crime against humanity, said she was encouraged by signs of growing dissent in the US and in other countries over the actions being taken by governments. After already extending her four-year term by a year, Ms Robinson reaffirmed that she might have been ready to stay on if there had been strong pressure for her to do so. - (Reuters)