Obama rights record questioned ahead of Nobel

Two leading international human rights groups gave US President Barack Obama mixed reviews on his human rights record.

Two leading international human rights groups gave US President Barack Obama mixed reviews on his human rights record on Wednesday,a day before he is slated to accept the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urged Obama to use his acceptance speech on Thursday to renew US leadership on human rights after its position was undermined by abuses committed during the Bush administrations war on terrorism.

In awarding Obama the Peace Prize,the Nobel Committee said in October the President had made extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation and that it hoped this would strengthen democracy and human rights.

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Obama has adopted a pragmatic style of foreign policy,winning praise for showing a willingness to talk to Iran and North Korea,which his predecessor George W Bush once dubbed part of an axis of evil and sought to isolate.

But Amnesty and HRW said this pragmatism had sometimes come at the expense of speaking out about human rights in countries such as China,Washingtons biggest creditor and a major player in efforts to tackle financial crisis.

He has created a false choice between having to speak out forcefully on human rights or being pragmatic and getting results on other issues, Amnesty International USA Executive Director Larry Cox told Reuters in an interview.

Amnesty and Human Rights Watch give Obama high marks for acting swiftly to announce the closure of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay,but fault him for failing to do enough to address specific human rights cases.