US Ought To Reflect On Its Own Human Rights Issues

Published in The People's Daily
(China) on 23 April 2013
by Li Yunlong (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Bion Johnson. Edited by Bora Mici.
Not long ago, the U.S. government published its 2012 "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" that unscrupulously criticize over 190 other countries without once mentioning the U.S.' own terrible human rights track record. On April 21, the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China published its own 2012 "Human Rights Record Of The United States," offering plain facts.

For many years now, the U.S. has considered itself the defender and judge of human rights in the world. It has publicly carried out human rights-oriented diplomacy and ceaselessly criticized other countries on the grounds of human rights violations. It flaunts itself as the world’s highest exemplar and champion of human rights, demanding that other countries, especially developing countries, follow its example by adopting its values and system of government. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. is not a human rights paradise and has a number of its own grave human rights problems.

The U.S. regards itself as a society built on individualism, proclaiming that Americans have extensive freedoms. However, in the name of ensuring safety, the U.S. government employs every means possible of monitoring its citizens. By means of secret wiretaps and surveillance of Internet and email usage, the U.S. government collects vast amounts of its citizens’ personal information and gravely infringes on their right to privacy. The Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act, Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act and other similar laws all include clauses that allow secretive Internet surveillance. From this, it is clear that U.S. demands for a so-called "Internet freedom" are nothing more than a pretense to be used for pressuring other countries diplomatically.

The U.S. uses "freedom of the press" as a litmus test to evaluate the condition of human rights in other countries and criticize them for censoring the news. But again, the facts prove the hypocrisy of the United States. U.S. media organizations are becoming fearful of increasingly severe media legislation. Furthermore, it is common for reporters in the U.S. to lose their job for publishing dissenting political opinions.

The U.S. once used human rights to legitimize its war on terror, claiming that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would advance the cause of human rights. If one looks at these two wars closely though, the worldwide impression is actually that the U.S. military perpetrated the worst human rights violations of the war, and the occupation of these countries caused a humanitarian catastrophe. It is reported that by 2011, the U.S.-started wars had caused the deaths of 655,000 Iraqis and 31,000 Afghanis, with the majority of the populations of both countries reduced to poverty.

During the wars, the U.S. mistreated prisoners of war, a serious human rights violation. Its military also arrested "al-Qaida" operatives and members of the Taliban, bringing them to Guantanamo Bay, where it declined to respect their rights as granted by the Geneva Conventions. The U.S. used torture in the course of those prisoners’ interrogation, water boarding prisoners over 100 times. Many prisoners have been locked up in Guantanamo without ever being officially accused of a crime, with the ultimate fate of dying in prison without ever standing trial.

Money-driven politics, an unreasonable election system, a wide wealth disparity between rich and poor, racism and every other kind of human rights problem afflicts the U.S. Most significantly, the U.S. human rights problem is not a matter of one or two issues; rather, it is a widespread and systematic problem with deep institutional roots. Consequently, the sole preoccupation of the U.S. has become criticizing other countries, while believing its own lies and ignoring logic. What the U.S. ought to be doing instead is examining its own human rights problem.

The author is a professor at the Institute for International Strategies of the Central Party School.


国际论坛:美国当反省本国人权问题

美国不久前发布《2012年国别人权报告》,对190多个国家的人权状况横加指责,偏偏只字不提本国侵犯人权的劣迹。4月21日,中国国务院新闻办公室发表《2012年美国的人权纪录》,还世人以真相。
多年来,美国政府自命为世界“人权卫士”和“人权法官”,公开推行人权外交,不断批评和指责其他国家的人权状况。美国自诩为世界人权的模范和标兵,要求其他国家,尤其是发展中国家向美国看齐,接受美国的价值观念,实行美国式的政治制度。然而事实是,美国非但不是人权的天堂,而且自身存在相当严重的人权问题。
美国把自己当作“自由社会”的标本,宣扬美国社会拥有广泛的自由。但是,美国政府却以维护安全的名义,使用各种技术手段,不断加强对民众的监控。通过秘密窃听、电子通讯监控以及个人电子邮件和网络数据检测等方式,美国政府收集美国公民的大量个人活动信息,严重侵犯公民的个人隐私权。《爱国者法》、《国土安全法》、《将保护网络作为国家资产法案》等相关法律都包含监控互联网的条款。由此可见,所谓的“互联网自由”不过是美国进行外交施压和谋求霸权的幌子而已。
美国几乎把“新闻自由”当作评判其他国家人权是否及格的标尺,批评其他国家实行新闻审查。可是事实再一次证明美国政府的虚伪。在美国,媒体担心美国新闻立法会越来越严厉。此外,因为发表不同政治观点,美国记者失业的情况也很常见。
美国曾用人权来论证反恐战争的正当性,宣称对伊拉克和阿富汗的战争会促进这两个国家的人权。但是今天审视这两场战争,给全世界印象最深的是美国军方在战争期间严重侵犯人权的行为以及美国在伊拉克和阿富汗造成的人道主义灾难。据报道,截至2011年,美国发动的伊拉克战争造成65.5万伊拉克人死亡,阿富汗战争以来,超过3.1万阿富汗民众死亡。大量民众流离失所,沦为难民。
美国在战争期间虐待战俘,严重侵犯了人权。美军把在阿富汗战争中抓获的“基地”组织和塔利班成员关押在关塔那摩监狱,但拒绝给予他们日内瓦公约规定的战俘权利。在审讯过程中,美国对他们使用酷刑。部分犯人被施水刑100多次。有的囚犯在没有受到指控的情况下被长期关押,最后甚至死于关塔那摩监狱。
美国还存在金钱政治、选举制度不合理、贫富差距悬殊和种族歧视等各种人权问题。更重要的是,美国的人权问题决不是个别或偶发事件,而是普遍和系统性现象,有深刻的制度性根源。因此,美国只顾指责其他国家,从本质上是自欺欺人和强盗逻辑。更多地反省本国的人权问题,才是美国应该做的。
(作者为中央党校国际战略研究所教授)
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