The world will look to President-elect Barack Obama to restore the United States' human rights reputation after it was tarnished by the war on terror, the head of Amnesty International told AFP.
In an interview to mark Wednesday's 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Irene Khan said in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Western countries resorted to the tactics they once condemned.
"What the 9/11 attacks did was expose the hypocrisy of Western democracies that until then had been champions of human rights abroad," Khan said.
"Suddenly they were caught with problems in their own territory. And then facing that problem, they chose to take the easy path out of it, eroding human rights rather than standing up for them.
"I think that sent a very bad message across the world to others."
While the war on terror was conceived by the US administration of President George W. Bush, "those who followed it were not just powerless innocents", Khan said, singling out European governments who cooperated in the renditions of terror suspects.
The 'renditions' -- transferring terror suspects to third countries for interrogation, often passing through European airports or airspace -- became one of the most contentious elements of the war on terror.
Photographs of naked and hooded Iraqi prisoners being subjected to humiliation and made to simulate homosexual sex in the notorious US-run Abu Ghraib prison also became potent symbols of abuses by US forces.
But Khan is optimistic that the inauguration of the first black US president in January will see human rights move back to the top of Washington's agenda.
Amnesty has called on Obama to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in his first 100 days in power to set the tone for his presidency.
"I hope very much that the US really take a strong stand on human rights in the future," Khan said.
"And there is every reason for the US to do so. As the world's largest power, everyone looks at the US as a role model."
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights milestone will be marked just days after the Mumbai terror attacks and amid fears in the West over the spread of religious extremism, but Khan said the impact of the document remains profound.
"Today no government denies that human rights are a valid concern of the international community," she said.
She admitted however that the outlook was gloomy as the global economic slowdown posed new challenges for human rights -- and she said governments had a duty to protect their citizens.
"It's a bad picture ahead and as people feel the crunch, there will be protest, discontent, and it could lead to oppression.
"In this time of crisis, the governments have to take the lead, they can't leave it to the markets to decide."
In an interview to mark Wednesday's 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Irene Khan said in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Western countries resorted to the tactics they once condemned.
"What the 9/11 attacks did was expose the hypocrisy of Western democracies that until then had been champions of human rights abroad," Khan said.
"Suddenly they were caught with problems in their own territory. And then facing that problem, they chose to take the easy path out of it, eroding human rights rather than standing up for them.
"I think that sent a very bad message across the world to others."
While the war on terror was conceived by the US administration of President George W. Bush, "those who followed it were not just powerless innocents", Khan said, singling out European governments who cooperated in the renditions of terror suspects.
The 'renditions' -- transferring terror suspects to third countries for interrogation, often passing through European airports or airspace -- became one of the most contentious elements of the war on terror.
Photographs of naked and hooded Iraqi prisoners being subjected to humiliation and made to simulate homosexual sex in the notorious US-run Abu Ghraib prison also became potent symbols of abuses by US forces.
But Khan is optimistic that the inauguration of the first black US president in January will see human rights move back to the top of Washington's agenda.
Amnesty has called on Obama to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in his first 100 days in power to set the tone for his presidency.
"I hope very much that the US really take a strong stand on human rights in the future," Khan said.
"And there is every reason for the US to do so. As the world's largest power, everyone looks at the US as a role model."
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights milestone will be marked just days after the Mumbai terror attacks and amid fears in the West over the spread of religious extremism, but Khan said the impact of the document remains profound.
"Today no government denies that human rights are a valid concern of the international community," she said.
She admitted however that the outlook was gloomy as the global economic slowdown posed new challenges for human rights -- and she said governments had a duty to protect their citizens.
"It's a bad picture ahead and as people feel the crunch, there will be protest, discontent, and it could lead to oppression.
"In this time of crisis, the governments have to take the lead, they can't leave it to the markets to decide."
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