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Great powers and politics of human rights

Iraq war and USA politics of rights

Atrocities in Iraq have been devastating. Researchers of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health in the US calculated that about 655,000 Iraqis died as a consequence of the Iraq
War in 2003.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 151,000 violent deaths in Iraq from March
2003 through June 2006.

Classified Pentagon files released by WikiLeaks recorded over an estimated 66,000 civilians
were killed during the Iraq War between 2004 and 2009.

Various reports have described grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian
law by occupying forces in Iraq. For example, US attacks on Fallujah in April and November
2004 were widely reported to include alleged war crimes, direct attacks against the civilian
population, use of white phosphorous weapons on civilians, and a denial of citizen’s access to
hospitals. It has been reported that coalition forces employed inhuman, indiscriminate or toxic
weapons such as depleted uranium weapons, cluster bombs and white phosphorous munitions in
civilian urban areas without any protective measures to minimize harm to civilians.

It has been also reported that use of these weapons caused significant numbers of civilian
deaths, as well as critical impacts on human health even after the war.

Further, it is well established that the US military committed abusive treatment against Iraq
detainees at Abu Ghraib and other prisons, such as physical abuses and humiliation, which
constitute torture and inhuman treatment.

The Iraq War was more than a mistake, it was based on lies and false pretenses. In the lead-up
to the invasion, the US and the UK attempted to gain popular support for a war on Iraq by falsely
claiming that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. Throughout 2001 to
early 2003, the Bush Administration built on this case to publicly justify their illegal invasion of
Iraq, culminating in a speech by then Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to the UN Security
Council on 5 February 2003, in which he asserted that "there can be no doubt that Saddam
Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more" and that
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there was “no doubt in my mind” that Saddam was working on producing nuclear weapons.
However, following the invasion of Iraq, no weapons of mass destruction were found - and the
rationale used to justify the invasion was found to be unequivocally false. Further to this, as the
US and the UK failed to secure the necessary UN support for their invasion of Iraq, they began it
without a Security Council Resolution. This meant that not only was the war waged on a falsified
pretext, but it also broke the UN Charter, and was therefore a gross violation of international law.

This dark milestone in the history of Iraq began with a US operation entitled “Shock and Awe”,
which involved an overwhelming number of devastating airstrikes on Baghdad, that were
allegedly intended to destroy the Iraqi command structure and paralyse the country’s will to fight
back. It took just 6 weeks for US President George W. Bush to give his Mission Accomplished
speech. Yet in 2017, it’s clear that far from being the “victory” the Coalition announced, the
invasion and subsequent occupation destroyed Iraq, with ISIS being just the most recent
materialization of instability which will trouble generations of Iraqis to come.

Yet perhaps worse still, the action taken by the Coalition to dissolve state institutions, including
the army and security forces, has meant sectarianism and ethnic tension have become rife in Iraqi
society. The new security force the Coalition established incorporated a large proportion of
religious Shi’a militia fighters - who have now become intrinsic to the Iraqi security forces. This
has resulted in the persecution of certain sects of the community, who face arbitrary arrests,
torture and executions on a sectarian basis that has now become both systemic and increasingly
frequent.

The UN Security Council is at the top of the institutional architecture designed to maintain
international peace and security. However, the sanctions it imposed were a punitive measure, and
rather than being intended to achieve the disarmament aims of Resolution 687 - the sanctions
were a clear abuse of the Security Council’s power. The deaths they caused, and the revelations
of corruption and mismanagement regarding their Iraq Oil-for-Food (OFF) Program, as well
as deadlock over Iraq policy in March 2003, has put a negative smear on the Security Council’s
reputation.

The subsequent invasion of Iraq, a sovereign, founding member of the UN, by a US-led
Coalition was one of aggression, and without justification. According to the Tribunal of
Nuremberg, this is not only an international crime - it is a supreme international crime which
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contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. Not only was the invasion unauthorized,
but the occupation violated international law in a number of ways - including the systematic
torture and ill-treatment of Iraqi people. Yet the UN failed to take the required action at the time
according to its own Charter. Acting only as a silent witness, it also failed to acknowledge the
gravity and the consequences of these crimes of aggression - and even today, the UN has still not
held those responsible to account, leaving the Iraqi people to suffer for all these years.

Kashmir war and India politics of rights

The Kashmir movement is nearly a century-old now being started prior to the departure of the
British in 1947. It has been seventy years since Kashmir’s movement of self-determination is on
the agenda of the United Nations (UN). The Kashmiri people perceive Indian injustices and
violence as a threat to their survival. Almost a hundred thousand Kashmiris have laid down their
lives in this fight for selfdetermination. The current uprising of Kashmir is galvanized by the
murder of Burhan Wani, a Kashmiri freedom fighter in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). Wani‟s
assassination by Indian forces turned him into an icon for another wave of uprisings. India has
been trying to suppress the uprising by trying to divert international attention by blaming
Pakistan for terrorist attacks in Kashmir including an attack on the defence base of Uri in
September 2016. Pakistan, however, has remained committed to highlighting the Kashmir issue
and human rights violation by India in IOK.

India is trying to suppress the resistance of Kashmiris, fighting for their right of self-
determination since 1948. For this purpose, India is using callous state power. In the process,
Rawlsian concept of justice remains neglected amidst the massive human rights violations.
Furthermore, Indian government is trying to manipulate the demographic realities. It is trying to
alter the ethnic, religious and geographic realities of the valley by governmental action. This
approach needs careful attention in view of India’s professed policy of secularism. At bilateral
level, India avoids to discuss Kashmir in bilateral dialogue with Pakistan. Instead of the adoption
of Owen Dixon’s Formula, which still remains an equitable and practicable option, India is
applying delaying tactics through intermittent engagement and dialogue with Pakistan to
strengthen its control over the valley. India appears content to maintain a brutal control over a
major portion of Jammu and Kashmir; is desirous to designate the LoC as a permanent
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international border, and has recently expanded the conflict to include the Pakistani portion of
Kashmir.

At international level, India denies the cultural rights and identity of the Kashmiri people, which
fuels popular unrest, as per Edward Azar‟s theory of protracted social conflict. India is pursuing
three objectives; first, it is trying to divert international concerns over Kashmir; second, it strives
to diminish Pakistan‟s efforts to highlight the issue of human-rights violations by India; and
third, it is denying Pakistan‟s standpoint that Jammu and Kashmir are unresolved territory and
needs resolution. India also excludes any third-party involvement in resolving Kashmir issue on
the pretext of Shimla agreement, which called for resolving all outstanding issues bilaterally.

The issue of Kashmir has entered its seventy-first year and no major breakthrough has been
achieved so far despite several policy options and solutions proposed by Kashmiris, Pakistan and
the UN. The Kashmiri indigenous uprising for selfdetermination, which started in 1987 and
rejuvenated after the killing of Burhan Wani in July 2016, has entered into a crucial phase
because of the long-standing politico-economic deprivation of the people of Kashmir. India has
been trying to crush this insurgency by adopting a coercive approach that is failing by all means.
Moreover, its approach of isolating Pakistan diplomatically is dangerous, because Pakistan‟s
presence in the region cannot be ignored. The Kashmir issue between the two countries has
remained a bone of contention since their independence. Both countries fought three wars against
each other and a low intensity conflict goes on. Many cross-border firing incidents have yet
achieved nothing. A general war in nuclearized context would be catastrophic. Any conventional
or non-conventional confrontation will prove suicidal for both countries.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES in Afghanistan war

In the years following 9/11, human rights and civil liberties activists have voiced major concerns
about the United States government and its allies’ treatment of terror suspects and ordinary US
citizens.
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The US detained hundreds of thousands of people, domestically, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
in dozens of other countries, many of which have lax human rights standards. Many terror
suspects were detained without trial, with no effective way to challenge their detention, and
without the International Red Cross site visits required under international law. And 122
detainees remain at Guantánamo Bay without trial, conviction, or repatriation, even though 55
were cleared for release under President Obama's Guantánamo Review Task Force.

An unknown number of persons around the world seized by the US were tortured or mistreated
by the CIA, military forces, contractors, and US allies.

In the US, numerous Muslims and people of Arab and South Asian descent have experienced
government practices that amount to racial profiling and public animosity in the form of hate
crimes and discrimination. 

Additionally, the events of 9/11 have been used as pretext to dramatically expand the US
government’s electronic surveillance and data collection powers, including the authority to
gather information on Americans who have done nothing wrong.

American war against terrorism which American started in 2001 against Afghanistan turned out
to be uncontrolled, counterproductive and costly in terms of finance and human toll. Expansion
of that war to Iraq, then Pakistani areas, US backed interventions in other Islamic states like
Libya, Egypt, Syria and Mali is giving clear reflection that only Islamic states have become
target of US and its Western allies. Widespread violence and political chaos in those countries
not only endangers the states but their adjoining areas as well. At least before US invasion or
intervention in these countries, conditions for human security and state governance were better
than now. Unfortunately, United States chose the wrong strategy to address the problems of
extremism and terrorism. Extremism and terrorism are not the things that can be managed with
arms or force. Peaceful solution to these problems in any society would generate better and long
lasting solution. If United States and its allies are serious to hammer out some peaceful solutions
to this complex problem in above mentioned Muslim countries, then violence or use of force
must be abandoned and some diplomatic solution must be pursued. Techniques of conflict
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resolution and diplomacy have evolved to the level where almost every conflict at international
level can be resolved through peaceful measures.

Operation Enduring Freedom” Three weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United
States and the United Kingdom began bombing Afghanistan, in “Operation Enduring Freedom.”
More than 5,000 civilians were killed.26 This was not legitimate self-defense, nor was it
sanctioned by the Security Council, and was therefore undertaken in direct violation of the UN
Charter. The bombing was not self-defense because the September 11 attacks were criminal, not
“armed,” attacks by another state, and there was not an imminent threat of an armed attack on the
U.S. after September 11, or the U.S. would not have waited three weeks before initiating its
bombing campaign.27 Under well-settled principles of international law, the necessity for self-
defense must be “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for
deliberation.”28 Even assuming the U.S. was authorized to use military force in self-defense on
September 11, that license ended on September 12, when the Security Council became “seized”
of the matter, which it stated in Resolutions 136829 and 1373.30 The Security Council has never
authorized the U.S. and the U.K. to use armed force against Afghanistan. The Council took
several other actions, which it is empowered to do by the Charter. It condemned the September
11 attacks, and ordered the freezing of assets; the criminalizing of terrorist activity; the taking of
necessary steps to prevent the commission of terrorist activity, including the sharing of
information; and urged the ratification and enforcement of the international conventions against
terrorism.

In, Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States has used armed force in violation of the United
Nations Charters and other treaties and international obligations, to the damage of thousands of
people in all of these countries, as well as the United States.

Iraq war

As of 13 June 2003, there are estimates of up to 10 000 Iraqi civilians killed and wounded by
U.S. troops and “smart” bombs.44 Four tons of “bunker buster” bombs were dropped in a
residential section of Baghdad, killing a dozen civilians.45 This attack violated Protocol I to the
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Geneva Conventions, which prohibits indiscriminate attacks, including those which may be
expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life and injury to civilians, excessive compared to the
direct military

Moreover, the war on Iraq has resulted in massive destabilization of the society. Millions of
people in Baghdad and Basra have been without water or electricity for weeks, which will result
in thousands of deaths from disease caused by unclean water. The destruction of electrical cables
was not due to an errant bomb.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom” and the U.S.-U.K. occupation have resulted in massive suffering by
the Iraqi people. Civilians are routinely shot at roadblocks; many have been deprived of clean
water, electricity and jobs; crime and disease are rampant, and the occupiers conduct arbitrary
arrests and heavy-handed searches of peoples’ homes.60 The Jordanian Embassy, the United
Nations headquarters, a Shiite shrine, and the police headquarters in Baghdad have been bombed,
resulting in many deaths, including that of Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights and Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim, a leading Shiite cleric.61 And U.S.
soldiers have become constant targets as resentment grows against the occupation. It has
unleashed a Pandora’s Box of terrorism in Iraq. As the United States has manipulated the United
Nations, many in the Arab world do not distinguish between the U.S. and the UN, which has
weakened the rule of international law.62 The United States must end its occupation of Iraq and
permit the United Nations to take over with a multilateral peacekeeping force.

Palestine war and is real politics of rights

Israeli troops killed well over 2,000 Palestinian civilians in the last three Gaza conflicts (2008-
09, 2012, and 2014) alone. Many of these attacks amount to violations of international
humanitarian law due to a failure to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians. Some amount
to war crimes, including the targeting of apparent civilian structures.

In the West Bank, Israeli security forces have routinely used excessive force in policing
situations, killing or grievously wounding thousands of demonstrators, rock-throwers, suspected
assailants, and others with live ammunition when lesser means could have averted a threat or
maintained order
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Armed Palestinian groups also committed war crimes during these conflicts and at other times,
including rocket attacks targeting Israeli population centers. Between the start of the first Intifada
in December 1987 and the end of February 2017, attacks by Palestinians killed at least 1,079
Israeli civilians, according to the Israeli human rights organization

Israel has also arbitrarily excluded hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from its population
registry, restricting their ability to live in and travel from the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli
authorities have justified these actions by citing general security concerns, but they have not
conducted individual screenings or claimed that those excluded posed a threat themselves. Israel
also revoked the residency of over 130,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and 14,565 in East
Jerusalem since 1967, largely on the basis that they had been away too long.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli forces continued to use lethal force against the participants in the
peaceful protests organized along the Gaza Strip borders, which witnessed the peaceful protests
for the 59th week along the eastern and northern border area of the Gaza Strip. They also
continued to use force as well during the incursions into the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli
forces wounded 11 civilians, including 3 children, a paramedic, and a journalist, while
participating in the Return March. Moreover, 2 Palestinian civilians were wounded after being
targeted in the border area of the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, Israeli forces wounded a
Palestinian child.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces wounded 11 civilians, including 3 children, a paramedic and a
journalist, while participating in the 59th Friday of the Return March.

As part of targeting the border areas, on 26 May 2019, Israeli forces opened fire and fired an
artillery shell at 2 Palestinian civilians, who were about 250 meters into the east of Um al-Mahd
area, east of ‘Abasan al-Jadidah village, east of Khan Younis. As a result, they sustained
shrapnel wounds. The injured civilians stayed in the area for an hour after which a number of
farmers arrived and transferred them to Gaza European Hospital.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces wounded a Palestinian child during the reported period.
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The great power politics has used peace and war as a tool to generate crisis and maintain status-
quo in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. The great power politics in the conflict has complicated
the dimensions of the conflict by supporting their regional proxies (Iran, Saudi Arabia) and the
regional players have further inflated the conflict by supporting their proxies (Hezbollah,
Hamas). The ideological conversion of the conflict has further enhanced these proxies’ (non-
state actors) influence bygaining political legitimacy on behalf of the support they get from their
regional andglobal benefactors.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/04/israel-50-years-occupation-abuses

http://hrn.or.jp/eng/activity/Iraq_HRC.pdf

http://www.gicj.org/positions-opinons/gicj-positions-and-opinions/956-iraq-war-anniversary

SSRN-id787985.pdf

https://www.ndu.edu.pk/issra/issra_pub/articles/margalla-paper/Margalla-Papers-2013/07-
Pakistan-US-Mistrust.pdf

https://www.ndu.edu.pk/issra/issra_pub/articles/ndu-journal/NDU-Journal-
2008/4_KASHMIR_DISPUTE_AND_THE_PROSPECTS_OF_INDIA%20.pdf

https://ndu.edu.pk/issra/issra_pub/articles/ndu-journal/NDU-Journal-2018/17-%20Being-
Recognizable.pdf
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