The New York-based organisation, Human Rights Watch, has condemned the United States government for refusing to support the prosecution of the former Chilean leader, General Augusto Pinochet.

Washington has begun a review of classified documents relating to human rights abuses committed in Chile under the General with a view to making them public.

But Human Rights Watch said this was no substitute for a policy in support of justice.

The criticism comes in the organisation's annual report, which paints a gloomy picture of abuses around the world.

Human Rights Watch says the US is undermining the fight for universal human rights by refusing to embrace key international initiatives, such as an international criminal court.