Bratislava, February 22nd 2005
Dear Mr. President Bush,
Dear Mr. President Putin,
We, Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth, as Slovak NGOs committed to the promotion of human rights and advocacy of social, environmental and economic justice, feel compelled to address you with concerns we have regarding your position in international politics on the eve of your upcoming visit to our country.
We are very concerned that the politics of your respective countries are nowdays shaped by narrow, one-sided interests rather than commitments given by international law. This fact is disturbing given that your countries tend to portray themselves, due to their size and influence, as leading superpowers or even as models for the rest of the world. Your politics are characterised by a lack of respect towards international standards in the field of human, social and environmental rights. The past provides too many examples of one-sided political interersts being given priority in your administrations´ decisions over general principles of humanity and justice.
Civilian Rights
President Bush, your administration led the war against Iraq, which was not authorised by the Security Council of the United Nations. Amnesty International has documented cases of illegal detention of civilians, torture and ill-treatment. The American troops continue to detain thousands of people in the detention centers all around Iraq, in spite of the fact that the occupation is formally over.
President Putin, the Russian army has been leading a war in Chechnya for several years. This war involves attacks on civilians, and thus serious abuses of fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. Cases where army personnel or military official were brought to trial are very rare.
Civic and Political Rights
Several NGOs have warned that the freedom of mass media in the Russian Federation has been considerably constrained. They have also noticed development towards the marginalization of the political opposition and almost-zero progress in the problems of numerous accounts of torture in police stations and bullying in the army. The human rights NGOs are very concerned that the justice system accepts the confessions acquired under torture. Amnesty International is equally concerned about the difficulties human rights defenders have to face in today's Russia.
The US has been detaining more than 500 people from about 40 countries at military bases in Guantanamo Bay for more than three years, even though this contradicts the Geneva Conventions. The detainees are held without charge and without contact with their relatives, who many times do not have any idea about the whereabouts of their loved ones.
International Law
The foreign policy of your administration, Mr. President Bush, is marked by a strict unilateralism. Unfortunatelly, it is accompanied by a minimal respect towards the UN and International law. Washington uses armed force against other nations without approval of the UN Security Council. It ignores, block and break international conventions. It refuses the Kyoto Protocol and the general ban on nuclear armament.
The US took away the signature of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which has the jurisdiction over the worst crimes against human rights. Since then your country, Mr. President Bush, is systematically trying to undermine the functioning of the court in order to guarantee immunity for its citizens.
The Right to a Clean Environment
Over 150 million Americans live in areas failing to meet clean air standards and over 40 percent of the rivers and lakes are still too polluted for fishing and swimming. However, the issue of clean air, clean water and a clean environment was lacking in your last year‘s State of the Union address. On the contrary, the steps of your administration are systematically making the legislation of environmental protection weaker. Cuts in the budgets of clean water projects are a very significant example.
Friends of the Earth have been alerted by the effort of the US to undermine the UN Environmental Program. During last year's meeting for the program, the U.S. government blocked all the decisions that could have made this institution stronger. The existence of this program plays a crucial role in supervising the adherence of the environmental agreements.
Your priority, Mr. Putin, is economic development. The favourable conditions for transnational corporations, especially the mining industry however, are most often created at the price of the quality of life of Russian citizens and the environment.
As representatives of Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth in Slovakia we are convinced that the politics of all countries, and especially the superpowers who like to see themselves as a model for the others, should be based on the adherence of human, social and environmental rights. Therefore, let us urge you as the presidents of the United States of America and the Russian Federation to stop undermining these laws and start advocating them and support the international iniciatives that will make them stronger.
Katarína Bartovicova
Amnesty International in Slovakia
Juraj Zamkovsky
Friends of the Earth Slovakia
Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Univer Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. In 1977 the movement’s efforts were recognized through the award of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Amnesty International
Beneditiho 5, 811 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
tel./fax: +421 48 4193324
http://www.amnesty.sk
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Friends of the Earth (FoE) is a federation of autonomous environmental organisations from all over the world. The members, in more than 70 countries, campaign on the most urgent environmental and social issues. FoE is the world' largest environmental network. It challenges the current model of economic and corporate globalization and simultaneously promotes solutions that will help to create sustainable societies.
Friends of the Earth Slovakia
Ponická Huta 65, 976 33 Poniky, Slovakia
tel./fax: +421 48 4193324
http://www.priateliazeme.sk/cepa
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