The US Human Rights Deception

Published in Huanqiu
(China) on 16 May 2015
by Chang Jian (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Nathan Hsu. Edited by Emily France.
Several days ago, the United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review Working Group conducted a state-level review of human rights within the United States. Making for a rather lively scene, representatives from 122 nations spoke at a meeting to offer criticism and suggestions pertaining to the myriad human rights issues affecting the United States. In fact, human rights problems within the U.S. have been a focal point of the international human rights community in recent years. Just in 2014, U.N. human rights treaty bodies, such as the U.N. Human Rights Committee, personnel within the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other human rights organizations, and special reporters, expressed concern about the U.S. human rights situation.

The problems that the international community has identified and raised for discussion touch upon a broad swathe of topics, including the level of gun-related violence, abusive cruelty on the part of law enforcement officers, poor detainment conditions for death row inmates, racial profiling and monitoring of minorities, a racial disparity in the application of the death penalty, a lack of transparency or legal basis for the use of unmanned drones in international anti-terrorism operations, the tapping of both domestic and foreign telecommunications through PRISM and other programs, and failure to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, among others.

But despite facing so much disapprobation and doubt, the U.S. government has never taken such calls to action seriously. For one, its stance on certain issues is that of outright rejection. For example, during the first U.N. Human Rights Committee universal periodic review of the United States on Nov. 5, 2010, the number of suggestions offered reached a record-breaking 228 items, primarily relating to the ratification of core international human rights treaties, the rights of minority groups and indigenous peoples, racial discrimination and Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. government rejected 55 of these items, only accepting or partially accepting the remaining 173.

Furthermore, in certain areas where it has agreed to improve, the U.S. government has not made good on its promises. For example, in 2011 following the universal periodic review of human rights in the United States, the U.S. delegation promised to abide by international law in its fight against terrorism, close the Guantanamo detention camp and keep the ratification process moving for U.N. human rights treaties. But to this day, the United States has still not closed Guantanamo, still commits serious human rights violations in its "war on terror" and has not made efforts to facilitate the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other core U.N. human rights treaties.

America’s obfuscation and discounting of its shortcomings in human rights have already brought on a plethora of derivative problems. An archetypal example is the discrimination toward minority groups within the U.S. that has led to increasingly strained racial tensions. A recent survey conducted by the U.S. media showed that 62 percent of whites and 65 percent of blacks believe that race relations within the U.S. have grown worse on average, the first time since 1997 that a majority of whites and blacks have simultaneously felt this way. The excessive use of violence by U.S. police in enforcing the law has already incited several large-scale waves of protests throughout the country.

The U.S. government not only cannot face up to its own human rights issues, but to the contrary has dubbed itself a "defender of human rights," criticizing the state of human rights in other nations through its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Such arrogant hypocrisy has long drawn the ire of other nations, as well as international human rights organizations and NGOs. Therefore, the eager clamor at this year's U.N. Human Rights Committee universal periodic review of the United States came as no surprise. The international community will now wait and see how the United States will react to the human rights review. As one figure in the U.S. human rights community asked: "Will President Obama be remembered as a leader who approved secret kill-lists, institutionalized the use of indefinite detention, and failed to end unlawful surveillance practices? Or will the president endorse accountability for torture and provide an apology and reparations for victims ... [and] stand on the right side of history?"

The author is vice director of Nankai University's Center for the Study of Human Rights and a vice-dean and professor at Nankai University's Zhou Enlai School of Government.


联合国人权理事会普遍定期审议工作组日前对美国人权状况进行国别审查,122个国家的代表在会议上发言,对美国在人权领域存在的诸多问题提出批评和建议,场面可谓火爆。实际上,美国国内人权问题近年来始终是国际人权界关注的焦点。仅在2014年,联合国人权事务委员会等多家联合国人权条约机构、联合国人权事务高级专员办公室多位官员以及其他多个人权工作组和特别报告员,都对美国人权问题表达了关切和批评。

  国际社会关注和提出的美国人权问题涉及方面广泛,其中包括:枪支暴力严重、执法人员滥用酷刑、死囚拘留条件恶劣、对少数族裔进行种族定性和监视、死刑判决存在种族差异、境外反恐行动使用无人机缺乏透明合法理由、通过“棱镜”等项目监控美国境内外通信、关塔那摩监狱尚未关闭等等。

  尽管面对众多批评和质疑,美国政府却从未认真予以对待。一方面,他们对其中某些批评采取拒绝接受态度。比如在2010年11月5日联合国人权理事会对美国人权状况进行第一次定期审议时,所提建议达到创纪录的228项,主要涉及批准核心国际人权条约、少数族裔和土著人权利、种族歧视和关塔那摩监狱等。但美国政府拒绝了其中55项,接受或部分接受了173项。

  另一方面,即便承诺改正某些问题,美国政府实际上也未能兑现。同样是在2011年对美国人权的定期审议中,美国代表团承诺在反恐斗争中遵循国际法,保证关闭关塔那摩监狱,并推进对联合国核心人权公约的批准进程。但时至今日,美国依然未能关闭关塔那摩监狱,仍在“反恐战争”中严重侵犯人权;同时,美国政府也未能推动《残疾人权利公约》《消除对妇女一切形式歧视公约》《儿童权利公约》等联合国核心人权公约批准进程。

  美国对于其人权问题的敷衍和无视已经带来诸多问题。比较典型的例子,就是美国国内对少数族裔的歧视导致种族关系持续恶化。美国媒体最近的民调显示,62%的白人和65%的黑人都认为美国种族关系总体恶劣,这是1997年以来首次出现绝大多数白人和黑人同时认为种族关系恶劣的情况。而美国警察在执法中过度使用暴力,也已多次在国内引发大规模抗议浪潮。

  美国政府非但不能正视自身人权问题,相反还一直以“人权卫士”自居,每年发布“国别人权报告”,对其他国家的人权状况进行指责和批评。美国这种傲慢和虚伪,早已招致众多国家、国际人权组织和非政府组织的不满和愤怒。因此,这次在联合国人权理事会对美国人权定期审议中的火爆场面并不出人意料。国际社会正拭目以待美国在此次人权审议中的表现,正如美国一位人权人士所言,人们在看美国总统奥巴马将是“作为批准暗杀名单、建立无限期羁押制度和未能停止非法情报监控的总统而被记住,还是因承认酷刑责任并就此向受害者道歉和赔偿而被列入历史正确一方”。

(作者是南开大学人权研究中心副主任,南开大学周恩来政府管理学院教授、副院长)
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Ireland: The Irish Times View on Trump vs the Fed: Rocky Times Ahead

Germany: Europe Bending the Knee to Trump

Cuba: The Middle East Is on Fire

China: US Chip Restrictions Backfiring

China: US Visa Policy Policing Students

Topics

Australia: Australia Is Far from Its Own Zohran Mamdani Moment. Here’s Why

Canada: How Ottawa Gift-Wrapped our Dairy Sector for Trump

Canada: New York Swoons over an American Justin Trudeau

Germany: Europe Bending the Knee to Trump

Germany: NATO Secretary General Showers Trump with Praise: It Seems Rutte Wanted To Keep the Emperor Happy

China: US Chip Restrictions Backfiring

China: US Visa Policy Policing Students

Pakistan: American Jingoism Hurts Americans

Related Articles

China: US Chip Restrictions Backfiring

Thailand: US-China Trade Truce Didn’t Solve Rare Earths Riddle

Taiwan: Taiwan Issue Will Be Harder To Bypass during Future US-China Negotiations

Hong Kong: Amid US Democracy’s Moral Unraveling, Hong Kong’s Role in the Soft Power Struggle

Russia: Trump Is Shielding America*