"The dichotomy between security and human rights is false." So says Ms Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, in the organisation's latest annual report dealing with 2001.
She argues vigorously against the position adopted by many governments following the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11th, that security must override human rights concerns where such threats exist. Her argument is reinforced by the Bush administration's decision to introduce selective immigration controls.
The Amnesty report documents many examples following those attacks. Governments pushed through legislation rolling back human rights safeguards, including indefinite detention without trial on mere suspicion; special courts based on secret evidence; and cultural and religious restrictions on foreign residents.
Amnesty's can be a difficult argument to sustain when so many have lost their lives and there is real evidence that those responsible are determined to strike again. The organisation's strength lies in its research capacity, working with a well established benchmark of legal and human rights norms. Its counter-argument deserves to be widely known.
The US Attorney-General, Mr John Ashcroft, says the new immigration procedures, including finger-printing of visitors from the US list of states promoting terrorism, are necessary because of the threat they pose. It comes on top of a major reorganisation of the FBI and new directives on public surveillance. Critics say it is biased against Arabs and Muslims and is likely to increase hostility to the US.
In its country by country review of adherence to internationally recognised human rights in 2001 Amnesty documents extrajudicial executions in 47 countries, judicial executions in 27, disappearances in 35, cases of torture and ill-treatment in 111, and prisoners of conscience in at least 56 countries. It is a bleak picture, which requires constant attention by those who take the case for universal rights seriously. According to Ms Khan, "an ethical approach to globalisation can mean nothing less than a rights-based approach to development."