By Eugene Ford

Worldwide involvement in human rights work increased over the last decade, largely because the Internet has made it possible to inform more people about violations, Amnesty International's top executive says.

"When a prisoner of conscience in China is arrested because he tries to form a democratic party there or issues a statement about democracy, the Chinese government can't cover that up," says William Schulz, Amnesty International's executive director. "That information is immediately available to human rights groups here in the United States and around the world."

The accessibility of such information has led to a surge in the number of human rights groups, he says. While human rights organizations used to be based in only a few nations, most countries -- including repressive ones -- have seen the establishment of human rights groups within the last 10 years.

These new groups have been successful in helping to reduce politically motivated imprisonment and execution in many countries. Amnesty International reported that the percentage of countries that conducted state executions fell from 21 in 1988 to 19 in 1998. And nations that jailed "prisoners of conscience" fell from 44 to 41 percent over the same period.

In its annual report on human rights, however, Amnesty International also stated that heightened sensitivity to human rights has compelled many criminal regimes to make their abuse more secretive.

Over the last decade, reports of torture or mistreatment in the nations Amnesty International monitors grew from 22 percent to 27 percent. Reports of documented disappearances more than doubled from 9 percent to 20 percent over the same period.

"Because there are no structures of accountability, such as an international criminal court, leaders of the world and military officials and police officials believe they can get away with anything as long as they can cover it up and keep it quiet," Schulz says.

Eugene Ford can be reached at
pj3@mindspring.com