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US-Led Terror War Victimizes World's Minorities
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US-Led Terror War Victimizes World's Minorities
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by
Thalif Deen
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UNITED NATIONS - The U.S.-led war on terror has triggered a
strong backlash against some of the world's minorities, including ethnic
and religious groups, according to a study released here Tuesday.
"The debate continues to rage about whether the 'war on terror' has made
the world a safer place for the West," noted Mark Lattimer, director of
the London-based Minority Rights Group (MRG) International. "But it has
certainly made it a much more dangerous place for minorities."
Titled the "State of the World's Minorities", the 2007 edition of the
annual study points out that some of the countries where minorities
continue to be repressed include key allies of the United States in its
war on terror, including Pakistan, Turkey and Israel.
"U.S. allies have managed to barter their support for the war on terror in
return for having their human rights record ignored," Lattimer said.
Somalia is "the world's most dangerous country for minority communities"
and has overtaken Iraq to top a global ranking of countries where
minorities are most under threat, according to the annual survey. Sudan
has been ranked third.
African states make up more than half of the top 20 list. Among the
African countries where minorities are under attack are Sudan, Nigeria,
Angola, Burundi and Rwanda.
Asked why the problem is so acute in Africa compared to other parts of the
world, Lattimer told IPS: "Africa has long suffered from high rates of
civil conflict, and this affects minorities disproportionately."
In part, he argued, "this is a legacy of colonial times, but in some
states, government and opposition politicians continue to use ethnicity as
a mobilising factor, often with disastrous consequences, as we have seen
before in Rwanda and see now in Darfur."
In other states, most notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ethnic
militias have been used by other countries as proxies to gain illegal
control of valuable mineral resources, he added.
In Asia, Sri Lanka has taken a major leap in rank, jumping 47 places since
the previous year, and is now in the top 20 list.
This has been attributed to the resumption of heavy fighting primarily in
eastern Sri Lanka. The origins of the war go back to a decades-long ethnic
conflict.
The report says that minority Tamils and Muslims are not only caught in
the crossfire between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam rebel group, but are also specifically targeted for human rights
abuses, including abductions and disappearances because of their minority
status.
Other Asian countries where minorities are under threat include
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand.
In Pakistan, the minority communities under repression include Ahmadis,
Hindus, Baluchis, Mohhajirs, Pashtuns and Sindhis, according to the
report.
Pakistan's cooperation in the war on terror has resulted in virtual
impunity against the human rights violations committed against minorities,
it adds.
The MRG list also includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, the
Russian Federation, Haiti, Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, and Guinea.
According to the study, negative fallout from the ongoing war on terror
also includes the rise in Islamaphobia in the 27-member European Union
(EU), including Britain, which has affected millions of ethnic Arab and
South Asian and other Muslim minorities.
Mouin Rabbani, a contributing editor to the Washington-based Middle East
Report, said: "I think the observation that the United States has given
key allies a free ride on their human rights records in exchange for their
support since the 9/11 attacks (on U.S. landmarks in 2001) is only
partially correct."
This is not because there has been serious scrutiny, but rather because
states that were also allies before that time were already exempt from all
but the most cursory forms of scrutiny, except in cases were effective
domestic political pressure dictated otherwise.
"The observation that scrutiny has been reduced I think only applies to
states whose relationship with the United States changed in the aftermath
of 9/11," Rabbani told IPS.
Pakistan, for example, had in recent years lost some favour as the key
U.S. ally in South Asia, and there were strains in the relationship
between Washington and the regime of President Pervez Musharraf.
All that changed as Pakistan emerged as a key ally after the invasion of
Afghanistan, with a commensurate elimination of questions about the
legitimacy of the Musharraf military regime and its practices within
Pakistan, he added.
In the case of Israel, for example, "I don't think there has been an
appreciable difference since 9/11," Rabbani added.
He believes there was perhaps more support as Israel's enemies
increasingly became identified as Washington's own, but says this is a
question of degree not direction.
"I think the observation that there has been a dramatic rise in
Islamophobia in Europe since September 2001 is entirely correct. While the
phenomenon was not absent before then, the available empirical evidence
certainly sustains this conclusion," he added.
Asked what the United Nations or the international community could do to
mitigate the problems of minorities, Lattimer told IPS: "The 'war on
terror' has made the world a more dangerous place for minorities because
governments have both stigmatised whole communities as 'terrorist' and
targeted the civilian population accordingly, or because they have pledged
their support for the 'war on terror' in order to persuade the United
States to turn a blind eye to their ongoing repression of minorities."
The United Nations and the international community thus has a particular
duty to state unequivocally that collective punishments, racial profiling
and other targeting or punishment of communities on the basis of their
religion or ethnicity is completely unacceptable, he noted.
'The international community should no longer continue to allow atrocities
against civilians to be excused as actions against 'terrorist
sympathisers' or as collateral damage," Lattimer added.
Copyright © 2007 IPS-Inter Press Service.
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