U.S.’ First Universal Periodic Review Reveals Skeletons in Its Closet

The U.S. issued its first Universal Periodic Review, showing others the skeletons in its closet and ills of human rights

According to the China Internet news from August 24, the U.S. State Department confirmed that the U.S. submitted its first Universal Periodic Review about U.S. human rights to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. There are 29 pages in this report. Other than the introduction and conclusion, the report is divided into 4 sections. The first human rights report that was released was based on “Human Rights Defenders” of United States. After the U.S. released the “Country Report on Human Rights” in 1977, it has always been finding faults in the human rights of other countries. This Universal Periodic Review showed how perfect the U.S. human rights are. Yet on the other hand, the U.S. has acknowledged vaguely that issues of human rights have much imperfectability. This report shows that as much as American human rights are “perfect,” there are many “imperfections” in American human rights. Why is America, a “human rights defender,” exposing its skeleton in the closet? Will this help America restore its reputation and establish a positive image, changing the double standard in U.S. human rights?

Report Still Filled with Narcissism

The first part of the report introduced the relations between the U.S. and human rights; the second elaborated on U.S. assurances towards freedom, equality and dignity; the third outlines how education, health care and housing ensure an individual can fully participate in society; the fourth promises cross-border exchanges on national security, immigration and illegal immigrants. The introduction of the report sees U.S. disguising itself as a world savior, “The story of the United States of America is one guided by universal values shared the world over—that all are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights.” We “present our first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report in the context of our commitment to help to build a world in which universal rights give strength and direction.” These statements imply that U.S. human rights are the universal standards, universal values. It is evident of the extent of narcissism in the U.S. about its human rights.

Other than that, shortcomings of U.S. human rights are concealed. “This document gives a partial snapshot of the current human rights situation in the United States, including some of the areas where problems persist in our society. In addressing those areas, we use this report to explore opportunities to make further progress and also to share some of our recent progress.”

Not only do human rights contain universal values, they also contain strong characteristics of the times and conditions. What are considered human rights changes with the times, since they depend heavily on culture and a country’s conditions. This is also the same for the U.S. The founding documents of the U.S. and a series of political literature all contain the basic elements of human rights, yet (the basic elements of) human rights are not fully executed in daily life in the U.S. For example, racial equality in the U.S. had already been affirmed by Lincoln in 1860, yet improvement in racial equality only came a hundred years later. As for the right to vote, it was only in 1920 that American women had voting rights, and this happened after 100 years of independence. In 1870, Blacks were given titular rights to vote, when in fact, they did not receive any. It was only under the leadership of (Martin Luther) King in the 1950s that (voting rights) made some progress. Even after Obama became president, there is still a gap in employment, benefits and other living standards between African Americans, other ethnic groups and the white Americans. For example, even after citing Obama as a success among ethnic minorities, the report admitted, “…individual stories do not prove the absence of enduring challenges.” The unemployment rate of African Americans and Latino Americans is much higher than the white Americans by 80 percent and 50 percent respectively, and the proportion of homeowners is 50 percent lower than the white Americans. The employment opportunities of the disabled are only a quarter of the able. The proportion of Indians receiving education is only half of the white Americans. And all these do not include U.S. abuses of human rights overseas.

Aim of Exposing its Skeleton in the Closet is to Improve its Image

Why is the U.S. submitting such a report at this point of time? What is the purpose for doing this? The Associated Press commented that this is one of the initiatives of the Obama administration, to show the world its merits. Obama decided to run for a U.S. seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. This is part of the foreign diplomacy of the Obama administration. Human rights diplomacy became an important component in U.S. foreign diplomacy after the Carter administration brought it up. Past administrations were unsuccessful in their attempts at human rights diplomacy. However, incidents of prisoner abuse in Iraq, the Bush administration’s defiance of the United Nations Human Rights Council and engagement in unilateralism all resulted in a futile attempt by the U.S. at getting a place on the United Nations Human Rights Council. All of this resulted in the U.S. having a negative international image.

Obama came into power and started to shape a new image for the U.S. by introducing “smart power” diplomacy. Actually this is a carrot and stick approach. The soft power is emphasized in some areas. Therefore the Obama administration will make use of this approach when it comes to the United Human Rights Council. The U.S. was elected to be a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the May 12, 2009. The Obama administration submitted its first Universal Periodic Review to the United Nations Human Rights Council with the intention of improving the diplomatic image of the U.S., and restoring its status as a savior.

There are other factors like political parties, Obama’s personal experience and accusations by other countries, etc. The Democratic Party has always paid more attention to human rights ideals, and as the Democratic Party president, it is no wonder that Obama is restoring this tool. Obama’s experience as a black man will have positive effects on promoting the development human rights in the U.S. The impact of the accusations by other countries, especially China, on the release of Universal Periodic Review, is especially great. The U.S. and China, as the world’s biggest developed country and the biggest developing country, are competing in many areas. The U.S. is making use of its continuous efforts to strengthen itself in terms of human rights to diplomatically suppress China; this is also one of the main intentions of the U.S.

Hard to Change Ills of U.S. Human Rights

As the most developed country, the contents of U.S. human rights and their legal framework are well-established. Indeed, the U.S. has contributed to human rights and promoted the development of human rights in other countries. Still, it should not see itself as a veteran and look down on others, and use what it achieved as a world standard and criticize the human rights of other countries.

This short report of 29 pages, with concise content, avoided important points while elaborating on unimportant points. Yet as compared to strategic or other reports which are a few hundred to thousands of pages, this report seems insignificant. In terms of importance, this report is more of political literature; therefore it is unable to significantly change the ills of U.S. human rights. If the U.S. does not change its hegemonic thinking, double standards, using human rights as a tool and a means to national interest and continue its hegemonic behavior, it will be counterproductive in its attempts at the International Council of Human Rights. The U.S. will also be its own obstacle to its human rights development.

All these can be found in this 29-page report. The American Civil Liberties Union criticized that the report ignored some important areas, especially that the U.S. is unable to honor its obligations on human rights. These areas are inhumane prison conditions, racial discrimination in death sentences, abuse of immigrants, etc. The report highlighted the extreme differences between happenings within and outside the U.S. There is no mention of Afghanistan or how the Iraq war resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe. The reason why the U.S. is not honest is that honesty will damage the image of the U.S. and affect its national interests. Double standards of U.S. human rights have not changed. One can expect that the U.S. will continue to find faults in human rights situations of other countries.