Obama and human rights: 100 days to counter terror with justice

Hopes are riding high on an Obama presidency. Not least among human rights campaigners in America and internationally who have had a tough few years trying to reconcile old fashioned concepts like the Geneva Conventions and the taboo on torture with the Bush-Rumsfeld-Cheney crowd in the White House.

The President-elect is certainly making all the right noises, most recently on his 60 minutes interview (already referred to by Niluccio):

“I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture. And I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral stature in the world.”

It is now up to Amnesty activists and others within the global human rights movement to close the deal. We have set benchmarks for the new President's first 100 days, for him to show he means business when it comes to respect for international law:

Amnesty International is asking that within the first 100 days of his Presidency, Barack Obama:

• announce a plan and date to close Guantanamo
• issue an executive order to ban torture
• ensure that an independent commission to investigate abuses committed by the U.S. government in its “war on terror” is set up.

Grassroots action in neighbourhoods across America sent Barack Obama to the White House. Now grassroots activism from around the world can ensure that his promises on human rights become reality.

Take nothing as given. Take action.

via Human Rights Now