Amnesty calls on Obama to prioritise human rights

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Amnesty International urged US President-elect Ombama to show true leadership by making human rights central to his new administration. The organisation is calling on the new government to take concrete steps in its first 100 days, which would show genuine commitment to bringing the USA into line with its international obligations. Amnesty International Ireland called on the Irish Government to live up to its pledge to contact the transition team of the incoming administration as quickly as possible to seek new commitments on international human rights.
In the first 100 days of the presidency, Amnesty International is specifically calling on the new administration to:

• Announce a plan and date for the closure of the detention centre at Guantánamo
• Issue an executive order to ban torture and other ill-treatment, as defined under international law and applicable to all US agents
• Ensure the setting up of an independent commission to investigate abuses committed by the USA in its ‘war on terror’.

“President-elect Obama must make a clean break from the US government’s detention policies and practices adopted by the previous administration. Millions of people, politicians and religious leaders in the United States and across the world are demanding these changes. Now is the time to make them happen,” said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.