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OIL INTERESTS MAY TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER HUMAN RIGHTS By Chris Knudtsen As Saudi Arabia led the push in OPEC to raise oil production rates, the United States may be willing to overlook a series of human rights violations found by Amnesty International in Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International released a strong report about widespread human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia on Mar. 26. The alleged violations include arbitrary arrests, the torture of prisoners, and the isolation of prisoners from their family and lawyers. Michael Auginelli, a spokesman for the United States chapter of Amnesty International said that the violations will not be overlooked. "The charges leveled against Saudi Arabia are very serious," he said, "Saudi Arabia will be held accountable for them." Officials in Saudi Arabia deny the charges, saying that they are untrue and that Amnesty International needs to be "more accurate in their information." Oil dependent nations such as the United States have a history of ignoring Saudi Arabia's human rights records. The possibility of the United States playing down the report may be higher now that Saudi Arabia is trying to encourage OPEC to raise daily production of oil significantly. Auginelli denies this however. "The United States and Amnesty International will not treat Saudi Arabia differently because they have oil," he said, "both the United States and Amnesty International] believe in upholding universal standards for human rights that must be upheld." On Mar. 29, OPEC, with the exception of Iran, voted to raise their daily production of oil by 1.45 million barrels. There has still been no action taken by the United States in regards to Saudi Arabia's violations. Neil Loverro, Ph.D., a professor of international economics, said that the United States would have acted against Saudi Arabia if OPEC had not raised oil production. "If OPEC hadn't agreed to raise the production rates, the United States would have led a moral charge against [Saudi Arabia]," he said, "it was because of our pressure that they agreed to produce more." The reports of the human rights violations comes on the coat tails of the United States placing pressure on Russia for human rights violations in the war in Chechnya. President Clinton called Russia immediately upon Vladimir V. Putin's victory in the presidential election to ensure that open inquiries and searches could be conducted about the alleged human rights violations. A common speculation, according to Jordan Moltz, Ph.D., a professor of international politics and relations, is that the United States is critical of Russia because they do not have resources that are crucial to the country. "If Russia had oil, we wouldn't be pushing them like we are," he said, "but we can let Saudi Arabia slide because they have what we want."