Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April/May 1992, Page 69, 70

Human Rights

By Carol A. Macha

State Department Releases Annual Human Rights Report

THE UNITED STATES Department of State has released its 1991 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, as submitted to the House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Relations and the Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations. The report analyzes the human rights records of all countries that are either members of the United Nations or receive U.S. foreign aid. The existence of the Human Rights report helps elevate the role respect for human rights assumes in U.S. government policy planning, and serves as a guiding consideration for future U.S. political or economic action.

Iraq Assaulted by Human Rights Report

Iraqi human rights practices met with severe condemnation by the State Department's report. The report called the magnitude of Iraqi human rights violations "shocking," even in light of its past practices.

After defeat of its armies in Kuwait, the report said that in March and April 1991 Iraq brutally repressed a major domestic public uprising through indiscriminate bombing, illegal detentions and mass executions that resulted in a mass migration by over one million Iraqi citizens, who suffered severe hardships. Iraqis who tried to return to their homes after a government amnesty offer were held in detention centers, the report charged.

Thousands of Iraqis have "disappeared" while in custody and in detention camps, the report noted. The executions, torture, and inhumane treatment of Iraqis grew as Saddam Hussain's hold on power was shaken during the popular uprising.

Iraq brutally repressed a major domestic public uprising.

The Iraqi government also utilized arbitrary arrests to suppress its people, especially the Shi'i in the south and the Kurds in the north. As detailed in the State Department's report, even the most respected of Shi'i clergy were not immune to the severe ramifications of Saddam Hussain's reign of terror. Grand Ayatollah Abdul Qasim Khoei, 95 years old, was placed under house arrest and forced to make pro-regime statements. Although his health is failing, he remains under house arrest and medical treatment is sporadically provided, if at all. Mass arrests also are a means of repression in the north, where up to 5,000 Kurds have been kept in detention since being used as human shields during the Persian Gulf war.

The United Nations also has issued a report on the human rights atrocities in Iraq. Stating that "The violations. . . are so grave and of such a massive nature that since the Second World War few parallels can be found," the U.N. report, by special investigator Max Van der Stoel, recommended sending a permanent monitoring team to Iraq. "Until Baghdad's behavior drastically improves," the U.N. report said, "the situation is intolerable."

Israel in the Occupied Territories: A Chronic Human Rights Problem

Significantly stressed in the State Department's report on Israel is the legal status of the occupied territories, which are dealt with separately from Israel, further supporting the U.S. stand that Israeli sovereignty over these lands is not internationally recognized.

Discrimination based on religion is rampant under the Israeli occupation, the report charges. While Israeli settlers living in the occupied territories are governed by the more favorable Israeli law, Palestinian Muslims and Christians living in the same territories are ruled by the more severe military occupation law. This discrimination is evident in equality before the law, the right to residence, land and water use, access to health service, freedom of movement and sales of goods and crops. The report notes that retribution for violations of security restrictions is much more lenient for Jewish than Arab residents. The report also found that "Settlers convicted in Israeli courts of crimes against Palestinians regularly receive lighter punishment than Palestinians convicted of crimes against either Israelis or other Palestinians."

The report cites Israel's deportation orders against at least eight Palestinians in 1991. Four of these deportations were based on largely secret evidence that neither the accused nor their lawyers were allowed to examine. The report labeled these deportations in contravention to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, of which Israel is a signatory. The report also reiterated U.S. protests against the transfer of Palestinian prisoners from the occupied territories to Israel as violations of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Israeli section is much more carefully phrased.

Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights groups have published "credible" accounts of Palestinian abuse at the hands of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) during interrogation or detention, the report noted. This torture includes blows and beatings, threats to detainees and their families, deprivation of food, sleep and sanitary conditions, forced standing and hooding. The International Committee of the Red Cross is not allowed access to the detainees until the 15th day after arrest, by which time the abuse and mistreatment has already occurred. The State Department report also cites as "credible" eight documented cases of electric shock torture at Hebron Prison. In response to this documentation, the IDF no longer interrogates its Palestinians prisoners, instead leaving this responsibility to the local police force.

Other examples of religious discrimination cited in the report are the travel restrictions placed on Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation. As a result of new security measures adopted during the Gulf war, Palestinian Muslims and Christians must now obtain a special permit to enter Israel, as well as Jerusalem. This significantly limits employment opportunities for Palestinians, as most are forced to work in Israel. Since most north-south routes in the occupied territories travel through Jerusalem, this act in effect bisects the West Bank, cutting off access to jobs, education and medical services for residents. Palestinians found in restricted areas without permits are fined the equivalent of U.S. $160.

To this writer, there are striking differences in the tone in which the State Department report documents Iraqi and Israeli human rights violations. The Iraqi section is loaded with aggressive adjectives and active sentences that carry a tone of presupposition of liability. The Israeli section is much more carefully phrased. The benign and passive adjectives and verbs chosen suggest little or no guilt. While this comment is not meant to imply any congruity between the magnitude of the Iraqi human rights violations and those documented for Israel and in the occupied territories, it is a reminder of the danger of manipulating these extremely important U.S. government human rights assessments for short-range political objectives.

Carol A. Macha, business manager of the American Educational Trust, is the human rights editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.