Illegal assembly

the income divide is widening

massacres, mass killings

medical costs

to be a migrant worker

to monitor and censor e-mail messages

politically motivated killings

to promote human rights standards

to release prisoners

to have a spotty human rights record

to skim most of the money off

severe restrictions on freedoms of worship and expression

social safety net

torture and abuse of detainees

to use extreme interrogation methods on detainees

United Nations peacekeepers

to violate the constitutional rights; violation of the human rights

Ex. 1. Speak on the following:

1. Independent sovereign states: the main actors in the international system.

2. The best methods of maintaining order: balance of power, diplomacy, and the formation of alliances.

3. The role of international institutions in the international system.

Ex. 2. Before reading the newspaper article below discuss in pairs what you think

It is about. Read the article and see if your ideas were correct.

U.S. 'Thumbs Its Nose' at Rights, Amnesty Says

By ALAN COWELL

LONDON, May 25 - In coordinated broadsides from London and Washington, Amnesty International accused the Bush administration on Wednesday of condoning "atrocious" human rights violations, thereby diminishing its moral authority and setting a global example encouraging abuse by other nations.

In a string of accusations introducing the organization's annual report in London, Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary general, listed the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the so-called rendition of prisoners to countries known to practice torture as evidence that the United States "thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights."

Defending its human rights record as "leading the way," the White House dismissed the accusations as ridiculous and unfounded.

Ms. Khan labeled the United States detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, where more than 500 prisoners from about 40 countries are being held, as "the gulag of our times."

In Washington, William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, urged President Bush to press for a full investigation of what he called the "atrocious human rights violations at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers."

"When the U.S. government calls upon foreign leaders to bring to justice those who commit or authorize human rights violations in their own countries, why should those foreign leaders listen?" Dr. Schulz said. "And if the U.S. government does not abide by the same standards of justice, what shred of moral authority will we retain to pressure other governments to diminish abuses?

"It's far past time for President Bush to prove that he is not covering up the misdeeds of senior officials and political cronies who designed and authorized these nefarious interrogation policies," he said. "So Congress must appoint a truly impartial and independent commission to investigate the masterminds of the atrocious human rights violations at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers, and President Bush should use the power of his office to press Congress to do so."

In response, Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said: "I think the allegations are ridiculous, and unsupported by the facts. The United States is leading the way when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting human dignity. We have liberated 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have worked to advance freedom and democracy in the world so that people are governed under a rule of law, that there are protections in place for minority rights, that women's rights are advanced so that women can fully participate in societies where now they cannot."

"We've also - are leading the way when it comes to spreading compassion," Mr. McClellan said. "The United States leads the way when it comes to providing resources to combat the scourge of AIDS." Amnesty's language was among the strongest it has used and represented a sense in human rights groups that the treatment by the United States of prisoners in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay had diminished its standing.

"It's not because the United States is the worst human rights abuser in the world but because it's the most influential," said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, via phone from New York. "United States disregard for international human rights standards is damaging those standards," he said, referring to some governments with poor human rights records "citing the U.S. record to justify their own."

In a separate telephone interview, Dr. Schulz of Amnesty International USA acknowledged his organization had used "strong language" because it felt that "the United States has betrayed a very fundamental principle that this country stands for."

The focus on what Dr. Schulz called "the failure of global leadership" was a shift from times when Amnesty International concentrated on issues like the death penalty, which it opposes, in countries like China, and the plight of refugees.

Ms. Khan said the Bush administration had "gone to great lengths to restrict the application of the Geneva Conventions and to 'redefine' torture."

"It has sought to justify the use of coercive interrogation techniques, the practice of holding 'ghost detainees' (people in unacknowledged incommunicado detention) and the 'rendering' or handing over of prisoners to third countries known to practice torture," she said.

She also criticized the European Union and some United Nations institutions, saying the Security Council had "failed to muster the will to take effective action in Darfur" in Sudan.

(Source: New York Times, 2005)

Ex.3. Read the article and answer the following questions:

1. What accusations does the Bush administration face by Amnesty International?

2. What is the reaction of the US to the accusations?

3. Do you agree that the language of accusations was strong?

4. Why is the US subject to severe criticism as an abuser of human rights?

5. When does the US lead the way according to the White House spokesman?

6. Do you think that the US has double standards in human rights issues?

7. What other organizations were criticized?

Ex. 4. Below is a list of some events that are mentioned in the article. Read the article and number these events in the order in which they happened.

1. Ms. Khan criticized the European Union and some United Nations institutions.

2. She also accused the US of human rights violations.

3. The US should investigate the cases of human rights abuse.

4. The US liberated millions of people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

5. The US rejected the accusations as untrue.

6. Ms. Khan called the US detention facility as "the gulag of our times.

7. The US is leading the way when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting human dignity.

Ex. 5. Find words in the article which correspond to the following defintions:

1. a person who is kept in prison, usually because of his or her political opinions (para 2)

2. a rendering or result of rendering (para 2)

3. very bad, unpleasant, terrible (para 5)

4. a very small amount of sth (para 6)

5. a person that sb spends a lot time with (para 7)

6. wicked, not moral (para 7)

7. a person who has been forced to leave country home, because there is a war or for political, religious or social rasons (para 12)

8. using force or the threat of force (para 14)

Ex. 6. Match the nouns and verbs as they are used in the article.

1. investigate a scourge

2. diminish b torture

3. combat c abuses

4. appoint d violations

5. practice e masterminds

6. condone f commission

Ex. 7. Replace the words in italics with a verb from A and a particle from B in the correct way:

A abide accuse call come disregard hand refer stand	B of by for(*2) over to(*2) upon

a Russia asked the UN to intervene in the situation.

b The victims were not mentioned by name.

c You have to follow the rules of the club.

d Martin Luther King supported values of justice for all Americans.

e She doesn't blame anyone for her father's death.

f They gave the weapons to the police.

g She shows a total indifference to other people's feelings.

h The bill added up to $50.

Ex. 8. Write the summary of the newspaper article.

Ex. 9. Read the text below, use the following words to complete it.

Accused, bulletproof, detained, detention, exercise, grievances, tighten, unrest