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Craner Says Government
Can't Ignore Human Rights in War on Terrorism
(Calls for release of Rebiyah Kadeer in Xinjiang)
While there can be no excuse for terrorism, says U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human
Rights and Labor Lorne Craner, governments should not
use the need to combat terrorism as a "legitimate
reason to ignore human rights."
In a speech December 19 at Xinjiang University in
China, Craner stressed: "Nothing can justify the
deliberate killing of innocents."
But, he added, "just as terrorism can never be a
legitimate response to grievances, so combating
terrorism can never be a legitimate reason to ignore
human rights."
While fighting terrorism was made more difficult and
complex by the need to respect individual rights,
Craner said, the "legitimate and necessary pursuit of
security does not allow us or our government to
trample on the rights of our fellow man."
Security and respect for human rights, he suggested, "are
not mutually exclusive. In fact, they support each
other. Many of the root causes of terrorism --
hopelessness, despair, a sense of victimization and
injustice, and a desire for revenge -- are found in
downtrodden people whose governments oppress them and
prevent them from living lives of dignity."
President George Bush and Secretary of State Colin
Powell, Craner said, "have made very clear publicly
and privately" that the United States "does not and
will not condone governments using counterterrorism as
an excuse to silence peaceful expressions of political
or religious views."
Following is the text of U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State Lorne Craner's December 19 speech at Xinjiang
University:
(begin text)
U.S. Assistant Secretary
of State Lorne W. Craner
Xinjiang University
December 19, 2002
"The War against Terrorism and Human Rights"
I am delighted and honored
to speak to the youth of Xinjiang University today. It
is a rare opportunity for an American official to come
to this part of China, to meet with a wide range of
interesting people and to hear from them directly
about their interests and concerns. I am grateful to
the Chinese government for arranging my appearance
here today.
In my work as Assistant Secretary of State, I advise
and represent President Bush and Secretary Powell on
U.S. policy in support of human rights and democracy
around the world. I have been lucky over the past two
years to be able to travel to many distant corners of
the globe to observe the situation of different
peoples living under very different sorts of
governments and to discuss issues of importance to the
United States and them. I am always particularly
interested in listening to the views of young people
and students, and to answer the very good questions
they have.
I was not much older than you when I first came to
China as a college student in 1981. I have returned
many times since, the last time with President Bush
when he met China's leaders in February. Like all
visitors to China, I am amazed by the rapid economic
progress and much of the political progress that has
taken place since the 1980s.
But it is to a region just across China's border,
Central Asia, that I traveled most often this year.
Just last month, I was in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Uzbekistan. I had no idea when I took this job that I
would go to Central Asia so often. I go there because
those nations -- like China -- are allies in the war
on terror. So why, you may ask, does the American
government send a person who works on human rights to
countries that are allies in the war on terror?
I'm sure that you are all aware of the terrible events
that occurred in my country on September 11, 2001. I
was a witness to those attacks; I could see the
Pentagon burning from my window at the State
Department. It is difficult to overstate the profound
psychological effect these attacks and the deaths of
3,000 people from 90 countries had on the thinking of
the American public.
After September 11, with the knowledge that there were
people who wanted to hurt us and who had the stated
desire to kill as many Americans as possible, some
Americans believed that we as a nation had to take
whatever means necessary to punish and prevent
terrorism. Some felt that, in the face of this new
threat, we no longer had the same freedoms and
liberties that have been considered a part of the
American way of life since the founding of our country.
They also believed that we should forget about human
rights in other countries, if it is expedient to do so
to fight terrorism. As one who witnessed the attacks,
I can understand this emotional reaction. But I also
believe it is wrong, for a number of reasons.
This is the first reason: Human rights are the ability
of people to live with dignity and freedom, to have
the power in the choices that matter to them, so long
as those choices do not infringe on the rights of
others to also live lives of dignity and freedom. They
are called rights precisely because they cannot be
discarded when times get tough or when circumstances
become difficult. We believe we have these rights by
virtue of being humans, and the fact that they may be
inconvenient at times or make certain things difficult
does not make them any less real, or make us and our
government any less obligated to respect them.
Fighting the war on terror is undoubtedly made more
complex by the need to respect individuals' rights,
but even our very legitimate and necessary pursuit of
security does not allow us or our government to
trample on the rights of our fellow man.
Moreover, security and respect for human rights are
not mutually exclusive. In fact, they support each
other. Many of the root causes of terrorism -
hopelessness, despair, a sense of victimization and
injustice, and a desire for revenge - are found in
downtrodden people whose governments oppress them and
prevent them from living lives of dignity. Fanatics
and extremists manipulate those feelings for their own
hateful purposes, and a vicious cycle is created where
repression breeds terrorism and terrorism provokes
more repression. We think this is a hopeless and
self-destructive cycle, and one that dehumanizes all
parties.
Let me be clear: There is no excuse for terrorism, no
matter the cause. Nothing can justify the deliberate
killing of innocents. But just as terrorism can never
be a legitimate response to grievances, so combating
terrorism can never be a legitimate reason to ignore
human rights. It might be tempting to think that
authoritarian measures beyond the law or even in the
law's name will be most effective in uprooting and
defeating terrorists. But security obtained under
these circumstances is at best temporary, at worst
illusory.
Both President Bush and Secretary Powell have made
very clear publicly and privately that the U.S. does
not and will not condone governments using
counterterrorism as an excuse to silence peaceful
expressions of political or religious views. When we
see terrorists, we will act against them, but we do
not believe we can condemn a whole religion, or a
whole people, because some among them commit terrorist
acts. I think we have shown this most clearly in
Afghanistan, where we did not strike emotionally and
indiscriminately. Instead, our action in the war was
aimed deliberately only at the terrorists and the
Taleban that supported and sheltered them. In the
process, we liberated millions of Afghan Moslems from
oppression, and we are now helping them build a nation
in a manner that they want and choose.
In Xinjiang, as I told your provincial leaders
yesterday, America has condemned the Al Qaeda-linked
East Turkestan Islamic Movement. But I am here today
to reaffirm our friendship for the peaceful people of
Xinjiang. And I am here to restate what our Ambassador
to China and I have said many times: We believe people
like Rebiyah Kadeer should be released from prison. To
quote President Bush: "America will always stand firm
for the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity: the
rule of law; limits on the power of the state; respect
for women; private property; free speech; equal
justice, and religious tolerance ... including in the
Islamic world."
Last week, Secretary of State Powell announced a new
American program to aid economic and educational
progress and advance human rights in the Middle East.
He did so because it is the only way that those
societies, like all societies throughout the world,
can best maximize the potential of their people, and
make a real future defined by greater freedom, greater
peace and greater prosperity. As Secretary Powell has
said, "Countries which demonstrate high degrees of
respect for human rights are the most secure and the
most successful. Indeed, respect for human rights is
essential to a lasting peace and sustained economic
growth..."
I had an opportunity to see what Colin Powell meant
last month in Seoul, South Korea, where 102 nations
gathered as a "Community of Democracies". If we had
tried to have that gathering 25 years ago, we could
not have held it in South Korea because it was a
military dictatorship at the time. And there would
have been not 102, but maybe 32 countries that would
have qualified to be part of a "Community of
Democracies." But today countries from Mongolia to
Mali to Mexico are illustrating that democracy and
human rights are not American or European concepts.
There are many forms of democracy around the world,
each appropriate to its particular country, culture
and history. What they share in common is the
knowledge that democracy does not just mean building
government institutions, but a system in which the
government is responsive to the needs of the people,
and is accountable to them through the rule of law and
the check of an electable opposition.
I began my talk today by noting that I have visited
Uzbekistan frequently this year. As I look out over
this audience, I am reminded of a meeting I had last
month with students at Tashkent's law school. As I
looked into their faces, as I look into yours, I think
that no one so young should be burdened with the
trauma and tragedy that terror has brought to our
world. But the students there have begun, with
American funding, a legal aid clinic to help ensure
that Uzbekistan's war on terror leads to greater
freedom, not greater repression.
We need to learn from these students if we're going to
win the war on terror. We also need to understand that
we cannot rely on force alone. My government and
others must work towards a future of full lives and
fulfilled dreams - a future built on a strong
foundation of human rights and human dignity where
terrorists will find no home. This is our vision for
the war on terror and human rights, and we hope all
governments will come to share it.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web
site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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