There has been much criticism of Obama's Bushesque human rights policies in recent days and weeks in the American press. However, I'm not sure that the extent of Obama's continuation of Bush's repressive and illegal policies is commonly known outside the US. For those of us who maintained even a glimpse of hope that Obama would be significantly different than Bush, what is happening is very disappointing. In short, the administration wants to limit habeas corpus, leave open the door for continuing the use of torture and forced disappearances, maintain the power of the president to arbitrarily detain people indefinitely and spy on them without judicial oversight. Not surprisingly, the administration also wants to solidify the impunity of those responsible for committing such vile acts.
I don't need to explain to you how these policies are not only violative of the human rights of the people involved, but also how they profoundly threaten the core of any liberal democracy, of justice and therefore peace. As the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law". And, in the United States, the rule of law has been broken - and, according to the deeds of the current administration, it will stay that way.
What I find most insidious, most dangerous, is that Obama is covering his repressive policies in the language of human rights. He pronounces the importance of the rule of law, while at the same time he undermines it. Doublespeak, if you will.
The following is a brief overview of the human rights that continue to be threatened under the Obama administration:
-Habeas Corpus
I see habeas corpus as the most fundamental right a person can have. Without it, without the ability to go to an impartial judge who has the power to enforce the law, no other human right can be protected. That's why the Magna Carta enshrined it, and why it appears in the body of, rather than as an amendment to, the US Constitution. The right is so fundamental that even the most repressive regimes have not repealed it from their bodies of law. The Bush administration, on the other hand, tried to do just that and the Obama administration continues that policy - denying habeas corpus to people captured by the United States throughout the world and rendered to Afghani prisons.
-Arbitrary Detention
In a "civil rights" speech recently, Obama promised to detain indefinitely prisoners who, for whatever reason, "cannot be prosecuted". The Obama administration has argued their right to do so in court, and recently they won a judgment authorizing them to do just that.
-Torture
The Obama administration issued an executive order last January saying that interrogations must conform with the Army Field Manual. However, the order also created a "Special Task Force on Interrogation and Transfer Policies" that has the power "to recommend any additional or different guidance" on interrogations to that of the Army Field Manual "for other departments or agencies", i.e., the CIA. This leaves a huge door open to the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques".
-Forced Disappearances / Renditions
Enforced disappearances are defined as "the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty committed by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law." What the United States calls "extraordinary renditions" are, under international law, nothing else than forced disappearances. Obama has not forbidden the use of extraordinary renditions. His January executive order does away with long-term CIA secret detention centers (no longer so secret), but allows the CIA to continue using clandestine centers "on a short-term, transitory basis." The order, of course, does not define how long that would be. Furthermore, it does not prohibit the rendition of prisoners to other countries as long as it's not "to face torture or otherwise for the purpose, or with the effect, of undermining or circumventing the commitments or obligations of the United States to ensure the humane treatment of individuals in its custody or control." In other words, US forces can render prisoners to countries where torture is commonly practiced, as long as the purpose of such rendition is not to face torture. In his May speech, Obama confirmed that his administration will continue rendering prisoners to other countries "for detention".
-Due Process
The right to due process probably follows that of habeas corpus as the most fundamental one for insuring the enforcement of all other human rights. The Obama administration has recently decided that the prisoners currently held at Guantanamo Bay should be tried by military commissions. The use of such commissions, by definition, implies that the full array of due process rights guarantee by the US Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, are unlikely to be granted to the accused.
This list is, unfortunately, not exclusive, but it shows that as human rights advocates, we must continue our work of pressing the United States government to respect fundamental rights, just as much now as a year ago. And those voices should be heard not only from inside the country, but from outside as well. Obama campaigned on the premise that the United States had to improve its image before the world. Let's let him know that he cannot do that without reversing Bush's anti-human rights policies.
Margarita Lacabe
Derechos Human Rights.