Human rights violations, including those against disabled people, still rampant worldwide

From AXcess News:

WASHINGTON - Governments around the world continue to carry out significant violations of human rights, according to a new report released by the State Department March 11.

In addition to an "alarming number of reports of torture, extrajudicial killings, and other violations" across the globe, the 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices noted developing trends, such as governments restricting forms of electronic communications to quell dissenting voices.

The Chinese government was cited as being one of the most pervasive in restricting personal freedoms for its "efforts to monitor Internet use, control content, restrict information, block access to foreign and domestic Web sites, encourage self-censorship, and punish those who violated regulations," the report said.

China's human rights record "remained poor and worsened in some areas," including the country's crackdown on public-interest lawyers and journalists.

At a press conference, Mike Posner, assistant secretary of democracy, human rights and labor, discussed the year-long disappearance of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

"He's thought to be in detention, but his family doesn't know where he is," Posner said. "It is one of the trends that we see in China that we're paying a lot of attention to."

In addition to restricting electronic communications, at least 25 governments have imposed new restrictions on non-governmental organizations in the past year that make it difficult for the NGOs to operate freely or receive foreign funding. This denies people their freedom of association and ability to stand up against human rights abuses, the report said.

"The principle that each person possesses equal moral value is a simple, self-evident truth, but securing a world in which all can exercise the rights that are naturally theirs is an immense practical challenge," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

Another issue the report documented was the misuse of national security legislation to apply widespread restrictions of basic civil liberties, specifically in countries such as Egypt, Russia and Sri Lanka.

The report stated that many human rights violations, such as politically motivated killings and restriction of movement, occurred in Sri Lanka against the Tamil ethnic group at the end of last year's military and political campaigns.

Rising discrimination and persecution of vulnerable groups, including racial, ethnic and religious minorities, women, children and disabled people is another trend highlighted in the report.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population has recently come under attack in Uganda, and anti-Semitism is still rife in Europe, South America, Egypt and Iran, the report said.

Discrimination against Muslims in Europe has also been on the rise. In November, Switzerland passed a constitutional amendment banning the construction of minarets.

This is the department's 34th annual human rights report. The reports, which are legally required by Congress, detail the status of human rights in 194 countries and "provide a fact base that will inform the United States' diplomatic, economic and strategic policies toward other countries in the coming year," Clinton said.

After receiving criticism for not including the United States in the human rights report, the country will rank itself in the Trafficking in Persons Report to be released in the fall. The U.S. will also appear for the first time for a review before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in the fall.

"We are committed to holding everyone to the same standard, including ourselves," Clinton said.