U.S. tramples on human rights at will
By Zhong Sheng
An unprecedented amount of 69,550 unaccompanied
migrant children were held in U.S. government custody between October 1, 2018
and September 30, 2019, up 42 percent year on year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Most of the migrant children in detention
suffered from inhumane treatment, exposing America's flagrant disregard for the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and willful
violations of human rights.
November 20 of this year marks
the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UNCRC, the first legally
binding international convention on protecting the rights of children.
Ironically, the U.S., which claims itself to be
a defender of human rights, is the only country in the world that has not
ratified the treaty.
On June 2, 2018, an
independent expert report on human rights and international solidarity, in
accordance with the resolution 35/3 of the UN Human Rights Council, pointed out
that the U.S., driven by populism, slandered and smeared
the immigrants with racist and xenophobic expressions and forced apart the
migrant children and their parents, seriously endangering the life, dignity,
liberty and other human rights of immigrants.
The use of immigration detention and family
separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and
principles, according to Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, warning that the U.S. should immediately halt
this practice of separating families.
The U.S., which flouts the UNCRC, has kept a
poor record on human rights for a long time. In April last year, the U.S.
started to pursue a so-called "zero tolerance" immigration policy,
causing at least 2,000 children to be separated from their parents.
As a grave violation of the human rights of the
migrants, such practice was strongly condemned by the international community.
Between 2014 and 2018, a total of 4,556 sexual
abuse complaints were reported to the Office of Refugee Resettlement—an agency within DHHS in charge of caring for
unaccompanied migrant minors, 178 cases of which involved alleged sexual abuse
by adult caregivers at U.S. facilities, according to DHHS documents released in
February, 2019.
In June, 2019, an illegal child detention center
in Texas, the U.S. invited criticism for its harsh conditions. For several
weeks, the children there weren't able to take a shower or wash their hands
with soap. They suffered from flu and other diseases and were treated
inhumanely.
"So far this year, at least
35,000 asylum seekers have been pushed back to Mexican border areas to wait for
their hearings," said Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights in September, adding that
the cases of family separation, denial of access to services and humanitarian
assistance, and excessive use of force against migrants are also noted.
To her astonishment, many children were
detained in U.S. centers for a long time because of identity issues, which she
believes seriously violated the human rights of the migrant children.
Protecting children's rights is protecting the
future of human beings, said Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at a
conference that celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child.
When countries around the world are stepping up
efforts to protect children's rights, the U.S. infringes
on children's rights at will, which seems all the more despicable.
The U.S. is always making a great fuss over human
rights, pointing fingers at other countries and criticizing them for violations
of human rights based on distorted facts. Never has it asked what contribution
itself has made to the cause of human rights in the world.
On the one hand, the U.S. withdrew from the UN
Human Rights Council, refused to participate in the UN Global Compact for
Migration or ratify important human rights instruments in international law
such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities.
It has not only evaded international rules but
also caused many tragedies such as the forced separation of migrant children
from their parents.
On the other hand, under the guise of human
rights, the U.S. tries to stir up troubles and sow discord in an attempt to
interfere in other countries' internal affairs and create chaos in the
international arena.
America's poor record on human rights revealed
its hypocrisy and ruthlessness. For the U.S., the international law is nothing
more than an excuse, a Russian lawmaker pointed out, adding that the
international law is legitimate to them only when the U.S. intends to seize
territories of other countries, overthrow other legitimate governments, or
plunder other people's resources; otherwise, the country can abandon the
international law at any time.
If you look at the history of the international
law, most of the concepts and ideas were put forward by western thinkers—including American thinkers,
said Kishore Mahbubani, a professor from the National
University of Singapore.
Mahbubani added that the paradox is that
American thinkers have provided the world with some of the best ideas in the
international law, while the U.S. has committed some of the most serious
violations of the international law.
The professor's view is worth thinking through
for some American politicians. The U.S. turns a blind eye to the human rights
disasters happened in its own country, and uses the tool of human rights to
maintain American hegemony in the world. Such a hypocritical perspective on
human rights will only make itself a laughingstock in the international
community.
(Zhong
Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views on
foreign policy.)
U.S. tramples on human rights at will
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