By Christiaan Perez
On March 29, Amnesty International will be holding its General Meeting for its nationwide membership, and this year, the University has the distinct honor of providing one of the speakers to at the meeting. Scott Horton, the distinguished professor from the Univeristy’s Law School will be speaking about the issue of accountability and how Amnesty International is leading the charge to hold the previous administration accountable for human rights abuses.
Horton started his career as a human rights advocate when he worked with Soviet Union dissidents, Andrei Sakharov and Elena Bonner, during the Cold War. Since that time he has helped co-found a campus of American University in central Asia and continues to invest in major projects throughout Asia.
In December 2008, he wrote an article for Harper magazine called, “Justice After Bush: Prosecuting an Outlawed Administration.” In this article, Horton said that “this administration did more than commit crimes. It waged war against the law itself.” It is based upon this allegation that Horton has continued advocating for the trial of the Bush administration’s Senior staff, if nothing else then to set a precedent to prevent similar action in the future. Horton pointed out that “Amnesty International wants to ensure that torture is removed as an option.”
Congress is considering a commission of inquiry in order to review these allegations, however many members have been calling for Amnesty from all charges that might arise for the Bush administration before the inquiry can begin. According to Horton, “this is putting the cart before the horse.” In order for the inquiry to retain legitimacy, it is necessary that Congress “doesn’t start the process with Amnesty.”
Horton emphasized that the “idea of [the] commission is to let non-political figures make decisions” in order to ensure legitimacy of ruling. The final ruling cannot be hampered by allegations that ruling was made for political reasons, and ensure that the world community can see that the previous administration has been accountable. This will give America more legitimacy when it advocates for human rights.
Most recently, he has chaired several committees with the New York State Bar Association that addressed abuse issues associated with the war on terror. Based upon this history, Amnesty International called upon Horton early this semester to have him lecture in Boston on during the conference.