AMNESTY FOCUSES ON US DEATH PENALTY

Ireland and Europe should show leadership in trying to end such abuses of
human rights as the death penalty in the US, WRITES PAUL CULLEN, Development
Correspondent

The abolition of the death penalty in the US was one of the key human rights
challenges facing society at the end of the 20th century, according to the
secretary general of Amnesty International, Mr Pierre Sane.

In Dublin over the weekend for the annual conference of Amnesty's Irish
section, Mr Sane reserved his strongest criticism for the growing popularity
of US executions. He said Ireland and the EU should be showing leadership on
such human rights issues.

"Public opinion in the US has bought into the propaganda that the death
penalty is necessary to overcome crime. With the execution of Karla Faye
Tucker earlier this year, a new threshold has been passed.

"Here was someone who was white, female, young, Christian and charismatic -
she must have been the most non-executable person in the US in terms of
class and race. Yet a few weeks later, another woman was executed in an
atmosphere of total indifference."

Founded 37 years ago, Amnesty has defended human rights worldwide by
highlighting violations by governments and opposition groups and by
insisting on a hard-line definition of human rights.

Mr Sane (49), from Senegal, has been secretary general since 1992. He
believes things are getting both better and worse for the upholder of human
rights. "People are more sensitised to human rights issues and standards.
But at the same time, there is a fatalistic acceptance that these things
happen, and that there's nothing we can do about them."

Governments have also retreated. "There's a lot of hypocrisy around, between
stated principles and the actions government take."

He cited the example of asylum policy in the West. "There are about 25
million refugees in the world but the proportion that reach Europe is
utterly insignificant. Europe is not taking its share of the burden.
Governments hide behind public opinion in their countries while ignoring
their role in shaping this."

In Ireland, Mr Sane said the 1996 Refugee Act should be implemented in full
and the Government should be persuading its neighbours not to lower
international human rights standards.

He welcomed the Northern Ireland Agreement but said past human rights abuses
must be tackled in the context of any settlement. "We are glad there is to
be a commission of inquiry into Bloody Sunday but there must also be a
proper inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane, as well as an investigation
into extra-judicial killings."

Sane is muted in his assessment of Mrs Mary Robinson's performance as UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights. "She certainly has a difficult task . .
. For the moment, she has the support of the NGO community . . . But the
real test will be in the next six months."

Amnesty has been highly critical of the Commission on Human Rights, which
recently concluded in Geneva. Sane says this has been so undermined by
political manoeuvring it was unable even to come up with a motion critical
of the massive human rights abuses in Algeria.

Supporting calls for the establishment of an international criminal
tribunal, he says this is one of the "key missing links" in international
justice. The existing tribunal for Rwanda may be slow-moving and
scandal-prone, he concedes, but it is important that it adheres to the
highest standards of international justice. "Maybe that is the price we have
to pay - justice cannot be short-changed in the interests of speed."

In many parts of the world - Colombia, Algeria, Rwanda - life for the
defenders of human rights has become more dangerous than ever. Sane puts his
faith in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, now in its 50th year.
"The only agenda we need," he says, "is to implement it."