In the political realm, while the concepts of human agency and tolerance were already part of the discourse by the end of the 18th century, it was not only until the United Nations (UN) was established after the end of World War II that the international system for the protection of human rights was put in place.
In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted as part of an international effort to legitimise and define human rights. It developed out of a complete repudiation of the horrors of WWII, which happened because human rights were ignored and trampled on against all human conscience.
Another important reason for the adoption of the UDHR was a call to members of the UN not to discriminate against people of Afro-American descent. Thus, in establishing the international human rights system, there was already the intention of improving the US’s human rights situation. Now, after over 70 years, what is the state of human rights in America?
The US’s human rights transgressions
The following is a list of incidents in the US over the past six months which have been called out by UN human rights agencies. From these examples, it is clear that serious human rights issues still exist in the US.
On 9 November 2020, the US was admonished by several countries, including its allies, for its human rights record unveiled during the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)’s Universal Periodic Review. During the course of the evaluation, the detention of illegal immigrants and their children, the killing of unarmed blacks, and the violation of human rights at Guantánamo Bay during the former Donald Trump administration came under the spotlight. Activists claimed that these actions were an indictment of the Trump administration’s policies and called for then President-elect Joe Biden to initiate reforms.
On 26 February 2021, nearly 20 UN human rights experts urged the US government to put an end to police violence and address systematic racism and racial discrimination with sweeping reforms. They said that they had “repeatedly raised [their] concerns about the excessive force used by American police in the context of peaceful demonstrations, and the use of lethal force against individuals who did not present a threat to life at the time of the police intervention”.
According to a HuffPost article published on 4 April, three special rapporteurs of the UNHRC recently issued a joint letter to the US government. They accused the US government and military of repeatedly violating the human rights of the indigenous Chamorro people in Guam, and said that the US’s militarisation of Guam has threatened the people’s territories and resources, their cultural rights, and the environment. They also expressed concern about the US government’s denial of the Chamorro people’s right to self-determination.
Special rapporteurs or human rights experts are appointed by the UNHRC and serve in their personal capacity. They conduct studies on the human rights situation of specific countries or major human rights cases around the world, monitoring the situation and releasing public reports. The criticism that the US has received from the UNHRC clearly erodes the US’s standing as the pioneer of the human rights movement.
But the US government has never acknowledged its human rights problems and could not be bothered with the criticisms it received from various parties, including the UN. Why is the US ignoring its human rights issues?
Amid the current China-US competition, the US is weaponising human rights and criticising China for its violations of human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. On the other hand, China claims that the US has no right to call itself a “judge” of human rights and “lecture others”, going on to criticise the US from their history of African slave trade to protracted domestic racism, the use of “Agent Orange” (in herbicidal warfare) during the Vietnam War, the complete destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq in their wars on terrorism resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, the torture carried out by American soldiers in Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, to the fact that their numerous bombings in several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa have resulted in a great number of civilian deaths.
Why the US is in denial
The level of politicking and cultural connotations in each country vary. Putting aside the rhetoric of weaponising human rights to find fault with each other amid international tussles, and using the definition of human rights prescribed by the UN as a measure, every country is flawed in terms of upholding human rights. But the US government has never acknowledged its human rights problems and could not be bothered with the criticisms it received from various parties, including the UN. Why is the US ignoring its human rights issues?
First, the influence of liberalism. A salient feature of liberalism is an extreme emphasis on individual rights. To fundamentalists advocating individual rights, humans are free and autonomous individuals who are responsible for themselves. In a society that pursues personal freedom and individual success, even if the Covid-19 pandemic ultimately results in the death of over 600,000 people in the US, human rights would not be dragged into the picture. The government is not responsible for the death toll and neither would any department in the federal government be held accountable. Both the UK’s Amnesty International and the US’s Human Rights Watch do not believe that the government is responsible for the deaths of people who died from the pandemic because they think that looking to the government in times of difficulty is a socialist act.
In February this year, the US was hit by a powerful winter storm that resulted in power cuts and water shortages in most parts of Texas. Millions of people were unable to keep warm and dozens of people died from extreme cold and starvation. In such challenging times, then mayor of Colorado City Tim Boyd’s comments best reflect the essence of a liberal government: “No one owes you [or] your family anything; nor is it the local government's responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim it's your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING! … only the strong will survive and the weak will [perish].”
“How could people have any right if they lost their lives (命之不存，权之焉附)?” But from the perspective of liberalism, how can there be anything wrong with the US’s human rights?
Liberalism focuses on the individual and individual rights, while socialism emphasises on society and collective welfare. Liberalism claims that society is a product of natural law, while socialism thinks that human behaviour is shaped by the social environment. Two different ideologies have given rise to two different interpretations of human rights. The question that Hua Chunying, the spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry, wants to ask the US is: “How could people have any right if they lost their lives (命之不存，权之焉附)?” But from the perspective of liberalism, how can there be anything wrong with the US’s human rights?
Second, an arrogance bred from being the world’s top power. The US’s top ranking in the world has given it major benefits in various areas, including human rights. The US thinks of itself as a beacon of freedom and democracy and a model for upholding human rights. Such an image allows them to scorn those they think are beneath them. They call the 1,000-year history of Europe the “Middle Ages” and believe if there was such a thing as “world civilisation”, it would be that of the US. American historian Henry Steele Commager noted in his book The American Mind that when Americans imagined heaven, “they thought of it as operating under an American constitution”.
The US’s attitude towards human rights is like that of their military who use a periscope to observe the surface of the sea — they only see what is outside but fail to see what is happening inside the submarine.
French philosopher and author of Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville believed that Americans were born equal, and thus did not need to become so. Perhaps this was why the US adamantly withdrew from the UNHCR after accusing it of being “a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias”. The US believes that they are already very advanced in terms of understanding and practicing the protection of human rights.
To draw attention to the state of their human rights, segments of the destitute and ethnic minorities in the US have to rally together to form a political force that wields votes as a weapon. Otherwise, their hopes and wishes will not be fulfilled. But any type of activist activity would require financial support, which is out of their reach.
Third, the US’s political system has hindered it from focusing on human rights issues in the country. There are at least 4 million displaced people in the US. They live in abandoned buildings, subway stations, or under a bridge. Special attention needs to be paid to the human rights of these people. But in a society that attributes wealth or poverty to self and not others, it is politically meaningless to lend them a helping hand. If the government were to help them overcome these problems, in the way China does poverty alleviation, not only would it do nothing for their votes, they would instead be criticised for surrendering to socialism.
Reflect before casting the first stone
To draw attention to the state of their human rights, segments of the destitute and ethnic minorities in the US have to rally together to form a political force that wields votes as a weapon. Otherwise, their hopes and wishes will not be fulfilled. But any type of activist activity would require financial support, which is out of their reach.
To some extent, social ills including high crime rates, incarceration rates, widespread gun ownership, long-term racial discrimination, election fraud, and foreign nationals abuse are closely related to the US’s brand of “noble” politics.
The US government seems to be in a state of ignorance and oblivion towards its human rights situation. The US has to recognise its shortcomings in this area and not weaponise human rights in its geopolitical tussles. In particular, in the international arena, it must give up its interventionist idea of human rights that violates the UN Charter and view and promote the protection of human rights from a broader perspective. Otherwise, the US will lose credibility as a human rights leader.
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