War on Terror Equals War on Minorities

[MikeNearMcChord]

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 8 (IPS) - The U.S.-led global war on terror -- which began five years ago after a rash of terrorist attacks on the United States -- has been transformed primarily into a war against minorities, says a London-based human rights organisation.

"Too often the war on terror has come at the expense of human rights," says Mark Lattimer, executive director of Minority Rights Group (MRG) International.

In most cases, he said, people from minority communities have been the target, often suffering in silence because of their minority status.

The minorities singled out as part of racial profiling, both by the United States and the West, include Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, Pakistanis -- and, also in general, Middle Easterners and South Asians.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34650