IRELAND:IRELAND IS criticised in Amnesty International's 2008 report for gaps in human rights protection in legislation, policy and practice. In a statement accompanying the report, Amnesty's Irish section calls on Taoiseach Brian Cowen to make human rights a central tenet of his leadership.
The report points out that the recommendations of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture that lawyers be present during the interviewing of suspects, and that all interviews be videoed, have still not been implemented.
It also points to the serious deficiencies in mental health provision, especially for children, and the number of patients in long-stay wards in poor conditions.
Referring to extraordinary rendition and allegations that aircraft involved in the practice used Shannon airport, it pointed to the reports on the issue from the European Parliament and the Irish Human Rights Commission.
Both recommended a system for independently investigating suspect aircraft, which was not established.
However, the report marks the fact that the Garda Ombudsman Commission has begun its work. It points to the widespread criticism of the 2007 Criminal Justice Bill Act, but does not refer to the Immigration, Protection and Residency Bill, which has been criticised by the Human Rights Commission and the UNHCR.
Referring to the state of human rights elsewhere, Amnesty International is critical of the EU for double standards. It points out that the EU professes to be a "union of values, united by respect for the rule of law, shaped by common standards and consensus, committed to tolerance, democracy and human rights". Yet it came to light in 2007 that a number of EU members states had colluded or looked the other way when their territory was used in rendition by the US.
In addition, says the report, "some European governments sought to water down the 1996 ruling from the European Court of Human Rights prohibiting the return of suspects to countries where they could face torture".
While people grumble about the regulatory excesses of the EU, there is little complaint at its lack of regulation of human rights, the authors of the report state.
"The truth is that the EU is unable to hold its member states accountable on human rights matters, which fall outside EU law.
"The Fundamental Rights Agency, created in 2007, has been given such a limited mandate that it cannot demand any real accountability. While the EU sets a high bar on human rights for candidate countries seeking accession [ and rightly so], once they are allowed in, they are able to breach the standards with little or no accountability to the EU."
This undermines the EU's moral authority in seeking to influence other powers on their human rights record, it says.
Turning to specific countries, it is critical of the UK for accepting unenforceable diplomatic assurances that people deported as terrorist suspects will not be detained or mistreated on their return.
It gives the example of two Algerians who were deported with such assurances, only to be detained and jailed on their arrival in Algeria.
In the Americas, the "war on terror" continues to give rise to grave human rights abuses in and by the United States, with secret detentions and torture of suspects.
It points out that the Supreme Court of the US is due to rule later this year on the fundamental question of whether the detainees in Guantánamo have the right to take habeas corpus proceedings. It also points out that, while the death penalty still exists in many states in the US, the rate of executions is falling and the abolitionist cause looks much less bleak than a decade ago.
Referring to China, the report highlights its support for the regimes of Sudan and Burma, of which it is the largest and second-largest trading partner respectively. Both regimes are presiding over widespread human rights violations, and China has stated that this is not a matter for its foreign policy.
Yet the report points to shifts in China's foreign policy in 2007, when it voted for the deployment of a hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur and pressured Burma to accept a UN special envoy.
It points out that countries with poor human rights records do not make good business environments, and states that this should be a factor in China's foreign policy in future.
In many African countries, political opposition groups, human rights defenders, independent journalists and civil society generally face repression.
Elections were afflicted with widespread irregularities in countries like Nigeria, it states, although the report appears to have gone to press before the elections in Zimbabwe and their aftermath.
The report points out that this year is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it calls on all governments to rededicate themselves to it.