Biden Ji, Senators And Congressmen Please Address Your own Human rights issues
The problem of human rights must be pursued by everyone. All countries must create a better environment for the realization of human rights for its citizen. This can be a pursuit just like reducing poverty and achieving sustainable development.
However, a few Countries have turned this pursuit of “ human rights” into a tool that serves that country’s international political strategy. Such countries’ have multiple standards on the issue and regard human rights as bargaining chips and chess pieces.
The US and a few European countries are a typical example. The biggest problem of the US in terms of human rights is that America’s own poor human rights record is known to all, but Washington refuses to rectify it. It’s the US, rather than any other country in the world, that needs to improve human rights.
The problem with the US is that it does not care for its deeply-rooted human rights problems, such as racism and the gap between rich and poor. when George Floyd , a black American , was brutally killed last May by the same Police who is supposed to protect him , his death ignited the whole country’s anger. These protests against human rights violations were simply dealt brutally as mere law and order problem , rather than finding a way to solve the problems. In fact, such releases of negative emotions further divide different races in the US. No wonder , recently there have been spates of random brutal killing of Asians in several gun attacks.
On taking over the reins , US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked big stating “the Biden-Harris administration will stand against human rights abuses wherever they occur regardless of whether the perpetrators are adversaries or partners” forgetting to mention his own country.
The problem is that those countries which are often criticized by the US are mainly US’s geopolitical targets. Blinken’s remarks are very hypocritical. Since Biden served as US vice president, the US human rights and foreign policies have had multiple standards and been a mess, leading to a worrying situation of both human rights and diplomacy.
The US Department of State on March 30 released its 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, in which it focused on criticized human rights situations in countries like China , Russia and India , omitting their own 50+ States. They also omitted all the atrocities and Human Rights abuse being Perpetrated by the USA Armed Forces on the hapless people of Afghanistan and Iraq. However the report claimed that China committed “genocide against Uyghurs” and “crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang. This is certainly a very hostile posture for Washington , one of the biggest Human Rights abuses to take.
The discussion of human rights should be based on facts and truth. However, when it comes to Xinjiang,as per China , the US and European countries’ discussion is based on lies and rumors. What they claim did not happen in Xinjiang at all. Thus, their conclusion about “genocide” seems ridiculous. Ironically, Washington’s tone eases when it comes to the US’ own systemic Human Rights abuses. The US tries to emphasize that its human rights problems are different from those of other countries. Human rights have become a complete double-standard show of the US. The country cannot regard human rights as a moral high ground to serve its hegemony anymore.
What on earth are human rights standards? What is the right thing to do? These cannot be decided by the US government alone , or their wretched researchers who are at best pseudo-scholars. Peoples of all countries, under the aegis of UN General Assembly should only decide such things.
After the US released it’s So called Human Rights Abuse report, Blinken admitted that the US has “work to do at home, that includes addressing profound inequities, including systemic racism.” He forgot to add Afghanistan , Iraq and South America and of course Vietnam has long been forgotten.
Though even calling upon the US to confront challenges at home is a step in right direction. It’s rare that the US admitted its very own human rights problems. But obviously, American politicians have never really realized what on earth their problems are, and have no idea about how to address them. Up until now, improvements are hardly being made, despite Washington vowing to rectify things many times. Though Blinken saying all this may be ploy that by admitting the US’ problems, Washington is more qualified to tell other countries what to do.
Washington is trying to dominate human rights affairs in global affairs by going beyond the UN Human Rights Council to set human rights standards for the world. They forget that the US can no longer play the role of a human rights defender after carrying out innumerable massacres of Red Indians within the country and thousands in rest of the world. Under such circumstances, the world, especially major countries, will defy the US’ monopoly on any Such narrative. As a course of consequence, the US’ monopoly on what defines human rights will be gradually reduced.
There will be a diversified trend worldwide in terms of the narrative of human rights. The international community will also comprehensively shape a more constructive view of human rights and a governance system related to human rights. This will be an inevitable adjustment and improvement of the original system.
Recently the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price’s made remarks on Xinjiang in a Press Conference. Price repeated Washington’s concerns over “human rights violations” in Xinjiang which the US deemed “genocide.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Price’s remarks were a ridiculous “lie of the century.”
The US is throwing mud on others to divert attention from its own bad record on human rights abuses, Zhao said, listing colonialism, racism, exporting turmoil, interference and double standards as “five sins” the US has committed.
The US conducted systematic genocide and massacre of Red Indians for more than 100 years and now has forced the survivors to live within Confined areas thus committing terrible crimes against humanity. In the century after the founding of the US, the US expelled and killed Indians through its Westward Expansion, resulting in the Native American population dropping from 5 million by the end of 15th century to 250,000 in early 20th century.
Then they had slavery on their soil which has now turned into racism problem. In the US Racism is comprehensive, systematic and enduring. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination pointed out long ago that African Americans face systematic discrimination in health, employment, education and justice in court. Hate crimes against Asians have increased by 150 percent since March 2020. More than 100 countries criticized the US’ human rights problems and urged it to solve them when the UN Human Rights Council reviewed the US’ human rights report.
The US also continuously exports turmoil to other countries. US has not stopped even after the World War I atrocities in Europe and World War2 inhuman nuclear bombing of Nagasaki ( Hiroshima may be termed as a mistake ) and the gruesome killings of Vietnamese. Since 2001, it has initiated wars or military operations in some 80 countries under the name of “anti-terrorism,” resulting in the loss of 800,000 lives, including 330,000 civilians. Tens of millions of Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians and many others have become homeless refugees. With US and Western support, the Arab Spring left many West Asian and North African countries in turmoil.
The US has also long claimed that “human rights override sovereignty” and ignores the UN Charter’s non-interference principle. It also imposed unilateral sanctions on developing countries, creating severe humanitarian crises. “Can the eggs remain unbroken when the nest is totally ruined? Can citizens’ human rights be guaranteed when a country loses sovereignty?” Chinese are asking.
How does the US government, which is tirelessly “taking care of Xinjiang Muslims,” deal with its own Muslims? The US allowed Muslims to be targets of white mobs and mosques to be vandalized after 9/11. The US is also the only country that put in place a “Muslim ban” after the previous administration issued such executive orders. An American poll suggested 80 percent of respondents believed Muslims are discriminated against in the US.
The US has self-deceivingly claimed itself to be a model of human rights, while playing double standards on the topic and using it as a tool to try and maintain its hegemony.
Now time has come for the US to cast aside arrogance and bias, face up to and reflect on its own serious human rights problems, and take actions to solve them rather than pointing fingers at other countries.
