President George Bush has shown "a worrying assertion of presidential power" since the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, former Irish president and UN high commissioner for human rights Mary Robinson told an audience of government leaders here yesterday.
In a keynote speech on human rights and globalisation at Microsoft's annual post-Davos Government Leaders' Forum, Mrs Robinson said the issue was "incredibly important" and noted: "An assertion of presidential power that is above the law is dreadful." The five years since 9/11 had been very difficult for human rights, she added.
Mr Bush drew criticism in the US recently after revelations that he had ordered the telephone and internet surveillance of individuals in the US without using warrants. In addition, human rights organisations have had long-standing concerns about the detention camps for terrorism suspects in Guantánamo Bay and, more recently, so-called "rendition flights".
Mr Bush has defended his actions by citing presidential privilege in the war against terrorism, but civil rights activists say surveillance without legal warrants is unconstitutional.
Mrs Robinson said that, while the US had a working system of governmental checks and balances - with government scrutinised by the press, academia, the courts and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) - this system had come under pressure from the Bush administration since 9/11.
"What's very worrying is the trend, and the advice being given, that presidential power is above the law," she said after her speech.
Such powers had only rarely been used in the past, but it was happening more often. "It's very important for a superpower that, in extending presidential power, the rule of law is observed," Mrs Robinson said.
In her keynote she said it was time to talk about knowledge societies, not just knowledge economies. "Knowledge is a public good, not just a public commodity," she said.
Human rights organisations could work more closely with businesses and governments to achieve real gains across areas including migration and development, and the gender gap.
Human rights could be advanced if countries - especially in the developing world - collected and analysed more basic data and vital statistics about their populations.
These would give baseline information and a better understanding of populations and their environment, Mrs Robinson told the meeting.
"I challenge European governments who are donors to big development programmes in developing countries to also develop their databases," she said.
She also said that if European governments worked closely with technology companies, they could harness the potential of information and communication technologies for human rights.
