VI. On the
violation of Human Rights in other nations
The United States has a string of records of
trampling on the sovereignty of and violating human rights in other countries.
The war in Iraq has led to the death of more than a
million civilians, made the same number of people homeless and incurred huge
economic losses. The Xe, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide and connected to
the U.S. Department of State, and the DynCorp hired 6,000 private security
guards in Iraq. Victims of activities of the two companies are frequently Iraqi
civilians. A report issued by a supervision team under the U.S. House of
Representatives in October 2007 said Xe employees had been involved in at least
196 shooting incidents in Iraq since 2005, which translates into 1.4 incidents a
week. Xe employees fired first in 84 percent of these incidents. The United
States established prisons across Iraq, where prisoners were routinely abused.
Human Rights Watch said on April 27, 2008 that the U.S.-led Multi-National
Force-Iraq (MNF) was holding 24,514 detainees at the end of 2007 (UN: tell us to
end illegal detention practices in Iraq, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/04/27).
On average, detainees remain in custody for more than 300 days, and all Iraqi
detainees are denied their basic rights (America's Iraqi prisoners,
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/08/07). According to a Human Rights Watch report
on May 19, 2008, the United States has detained some 2,400 children in Iraq,
including those as young as 10, since 2003. U.S. forces were also holding 513
Iraqi children as "imperative threats to security". Children in Iraqi custody
are at risk of physical abuse (US: Respect rights of child detainees in Iraq,
http//www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/05/19).
The United
States has maintained its economic, commercial and financial embargo against
Cuba for nearly 50 years. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the
U.S. blockade has caused an accumulated directed economic loss of more than 93
billion U.S. dollars for Cuba. Seven out of 10 Cubans have spent their entire
lives under the U.S. embargo (Overwhelming International Rejection of US
Blockade of Cuba at UN, www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/1029votacion_onu.htm). On
October 29, 2008, the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly
adopted a resolution entitled "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and
financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" with a
vote of 185 for, three against, urging the United States to immediately end its
unilateral embargo against Cuba. It is the 17th consecutive year that an
overwhelming majority in the assembly have supported the measure. It is a
demonstration of the international community expressing their strong
dissatisfaction over the United States acting against the international law and
U.N. Charter by viciously violating Cuban peoples' rights to live and develop.
The United States is the world's biggest seller of
arms. Its arms sales greatly intensified instability across the world and
severely violated human rights of foreign nationals. A report by the New
American Foundation, U.S. arms sales reached 32 billion U.S. dollars in 2007,
more than three times the level in 2001. The weapons were sold to more than 174
nations and regions (Study: US arms sales undermine global human rights,
http://sfgate.com).
The United States is haunted by scandals of prisoner
abuses. The Washington Post reported on September 25, 2008 that U.S.
interrogators poking, slapping or shoving detainees would not give rise to
criminal liability, according to an internal memo declassified by the Department
of Defense. The same newspaper reported on April 22, 2008 that U.S.
interrogators used practices such as keeping detainees from sleeping, forced
drugging, and coercing confession through torture during questioning detainees
at the military prison in Guantanamo. The Human Rights Watch said in a February
6, 2008 report that about 185 of the 270 detainees are housed in facilities akin
to "supermax" prisons in various "camps" at the detention center in Guantanamo
even though they have not yet been convicted of a crime. These detainees have
extremely limited contact with other human beings; spend 22 hours a day alone in
small cells with little or no natural light or fresh air (News report finds
treatment of detainees unnecessarily harsh,
http//www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/06/10). The Associated Press reported that more
than 20 detainees under the age of 18 have been brought to the prison camp in
Guantanamo since 2002 to fall victim to mistreatment from U.S. army service
people. In June 2008, Mohammed Jawad described his experience in May 2004 when
he, less than 18 then, was brought to the detention center in Guantanamo and was
denied his time for sleep. Jawad was moved from cell to cell 112 times in 14
days, usually left in one cell for less than three hours before being shackled
and moved to another. He was moved more frequently between midnight and 2 a.m.
to ensure maximum disruption of sleep (The war on teen terror, http://
www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/06/23).
The United States is inactive towards its
international human rights obligations under the international treaties. The
U.S. signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
31 years ago, the Covenant on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination
against Women 28 years ago, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child 14
years ago, but none of the above treaties has been approved yet. The Convention
on Rights of Disabled Persons is the most important progress the United Nations
has achieved in protecting the rights of disabled persons in the new century,
and the convention is highly valued by different nations. So far, 136 countries
have signed the convention, and 41 already approved it. But the United States
has yet to endorse and sign the convention. The U.S. has refused a pledge to
promote and protect the rights of indigenous people, and also failed to
acknowledge their rights of self-governing, of land and of natural resources in
the United Nations and in the international community. On September 13, 2007,
the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration
of Aboriginal Rights by a vote of 143 in favor, while the United States was one
of the only four countries that voted against it.
The United States has always obstinately followed
double standards in dealing with international human rights affairs, and failed
to fulfill its international human rights obligations. The Special Rapporteur on
the human rights of migrants of the United Nations visited the United States in
2007. However, the original plans to visit the detention centers in Hutto, Texas
and Monmouth, New Jersey were canceled with no satisfactory explanations from
the U.S. government, although the plans had been sanctioned by the U.S.
government in advance. In 2008, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights
of migrants said in the U.S.-visit report that the United States detained
230,000 migrants every year, more than three times the number nine years ago.
The U.S. deportation procedures lack proper procedures about "non-citizens", and
non-citizens are rendered incapable of questioning whether they are detained
lawfully, or whether for too long. The Special Rapporteur said the United States
had failed to fulfill its international obligations, and also failed in adopting
comprehensively coordinated national policies in light of explicit international
obligations to prioritize the human rights of more than 37.5 million migrants
living in the country.
The outbound humanitarian aids offered by the United
States are dwarfed by its status as the richest country in the world. According
to a report from the Development Assistance Research Associates, a non-profit
organization based in Spain, the United States is listed one of the countries
with the worst records in providing independent, righteous, and unbiased
humanitarian aids to other countries. The report said the U.S. aids to other
countries came frequently linked to its military or political ambitions.
Respect to and protection of human rights is an
important indication of civilization and progress of human society. Every
government shoulders a common responsibility in committing itself to improvement
of human rights conditions in the country. For years, the United States has
positioned itself over other countries and released the Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices annually to criticize human rights conditions in other
countries, using it as a tool to interfere with and demonize other nations. In
the meantime, the U.S. has turned a blind eye to its own violations of human
rights. The U.S. practice of throwing stones at others while living in a glass
house is a testimony to the double standards and hypocrisy of the United States
in dealing with human rights issues, and has undermined its international image.
We hereby advise the U.S. government to begin anew, face its own human rights
problems with courage, and stop the wrong practice of applying double standards
on human rights issues.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
