US President Faces Criticism Over Violation of Human Rights, Despite His Country’s Reputation as a ‘Defender of Human Rights’

Published in Segye Times
(South Korea) on 3 February 2017
by Editorial (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Myung Jeon. Edited by Rachel Pott.
António Guterres, the new secretary-general of the United Nations, publicly called on the U.S. government yesterday to scrap U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending entry for refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries. A group of special rapporteurs at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees also released a statement, addressing the illegality of the president’s executive order, which places a 90-day block on entry to the U.S. for refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations. “Such an order is clearly discriminatory based on one's nationality and leads to increased stigmatization of Muslim communities,” said the human rights experts at the global body.

In fact, the U.S. has been a global leader in promoting human rights and has played a critical role in improving human rights around the world. The U.S. Department of State, for example, publishes annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and criticizes countries where human rights are abused. Earlier this year, the department blacklisted Kim Yo Jung, vice director of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Propaganda and Agitation Department, as one of the individuals responsible for serious human rights abuses in North Korea, in addition to the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un. Washington has also often mentioned China’s poor human rights records. Given these examples, it is ironic that the U.S. is now being criticized for violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the international community.

The Trump administration should humbly accept this global criticism — world leaders have raised their voices and denounced his executive order. The Vatican expressed its concerns with the president’s executive order yesterday. "We are builders of bridges, far less of walls,” the Vatican's deputy secretary of state, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, told an Italian Catholic television channel. He added, “Pope Francis, in fact, insists on the ability to integrate those who arrive in our societies and cultures.” U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, too, clearly stated her opposition to Trump’s executive order, saying, “I have made very clear, very clear that we believe that this policy is divisive and wrong.”

The resistance to Trump’s immigration ban in the U.S., too, has reached a serious phase. For instance, a federal judge in Los Angeles issued an emergency order to temporarily halt Trump’s executive order and forbid government officials from suspending entry for refugees and citizens from seven countries with Muslim-majority populations. The voice of conscience is growing even stronger: The American Council on Education, an organization representing nearly 1,800 college and university presidents, presented its members’ concerns to the secretary of Homeland Security, and seven university hospitals, including Johns Hopkins Medicine, added their voices to the many already criticizing the contents of Trump administration’s visa ban, calling the ban “a step backward.”

President Trump should reconsider his executive order, which is causing severe conflicts in not only his country but in the international community as well. His travel ban has, in effect, already blocked entry to the U.S. for 50,000 Syrian refugees and left 26,000 Somalian refugees stuck in Kenya. It is un-American to leave those in danger in limbo – they can neither enter the U.S. nor do they have any place to go.


‘인권국가’ 미국 대통령이 “인권 위반” 지적받다니

안토니우 구테흐스 유엔 사무총장이 어제 도널드 트럼프 미국 대통령의 반이민 행정명령에 대한 철회를 공개적으로 요구했다. 유엔인권이사회(UNHCR)에서 활동하는 특별보고관들도 이슬람권 7개국의 입국을 90일간 금지하는 행정명령이 위법하다는 집단성명을 냈다. 이들은 성명에서 “행정명령은 강제 송환 금지와 인종, 국적, 종교에 따른 차별을 금지하는 대전제 위에 성립한 국제 인권 규약을 위반하고 있다”고 밝혔다.

미국은 국제사회의 인권 개선에 앞장서온 인권 선진국이다. 미 국무부는 매년 국가별 인권보고서를 발표하고 인권 탄압 국가들을 비판하고 있다. 올해 초에는 김정은 북한 노동당 위원장에 이어 김여정 노동당 선전선동부 부부장을 인권유린 혐의로 제재대상에 올렸다. 중국에 대해서도 열악한 인권 상황을 자주 거론했다. 그런 인권국가가 국제사회로부터 인권 규약을 위반했다는 지적을 받아서야 되겠는가.

트럼프 정부는 국제사회의 비판을 겸허하게 받아들여야 한다. 교황청은 어제 행정명령에 우려를 표명했다. 교황청 국무 부장관을 맡고 있는 안젤로 베치우 대주교는 이탈리아 가톨릭 방송과의 회견에서 “우리는 서로 다른 문화를 잇는 다리를 만들어야지 벽을 세워서는 안 된다”고 했다. 또 “프란치스코 교황은 우리 사회와 문화에 들어오는 사람들을 통합할 것을 누차 강조해 왔다”고 말했다. 테리사 메이 영국 총리도 “그 정책이 분열적이고 옳지 않다고 생각한다”고 반대 입장을 분명히 밝혔다.

트럼프 조치를 놓고 미국 내의 반발도 심상치 않다. 로스앤젤레스 연방법원은 트럼프의 행정명령을 잠정적으로 금지하는 긴급명령을 내렸다. 연방공무원들에게 합법적인 비자를 소유한 이슬람권 7개국 국민과 난민의 미국 입국을 막지 말도록 했다. 양심의 목소리는 더욱 커지고 있다. 1800여개 대학이 참여하는 총장·학장협의체는 국토안보부장관에게 대학사회의 우려를 전달했다. 존스홉킨스대학병원 등 7개 대학병원도 ‘뒷걸음행정’이라며 비판의 대열에 가세했다.

트럼프 대통령은 자국은 물론 국제사회의 분열을 초래하는 행정명령을 재고해야 한다. 이미 행정명령 발동으로 시리아 난민 5만여명은 미국 입국길이 막혔다. 케냐에 갇혀 있는 소말리아 난민 2만6000여명도 발이 묶였다. 위기에 처한 사람들을 국제 미아로 만드는 것은 미국 정신에 맞지 않는다.
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