Dear All!

Sultan Somjee, Kenyan ethnographer honored by the UN for his efforts to preserve indigenous people’s peace traditions, says in response to the Iraqi Prisoner Abuse of 2004, “Humiliation does not have nationality, religion, color or gender. Humiliation of one human being humiliates humanity and our dignity of being.”
I would add, only if we avoid institutions, attitudes, and behavior with humiliating effects will we create a future for our world in the spirit of Kofi Annan’s promotion for the Olympic Games of 2004, namely “celebrate humanity.”
In this context, any occurences of humiliation are hurtful to all of us.
With sadness, as a physician and as human being,
Evelin

The Lancet
The legacy of Abu Ghraib This week's Health and Human Rights section examines how the US military medical system has failed to protect detainees' human rights in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. An inquiry into medical personnel's complicity in human rights violations in places like Abu Ghraib could provide vital reform. The lead Editorial argues that the western world no longer takes human rights seriously.