Notorious human rights record of US worsens

WASHINGTON – The Report on Human Rights Violations in the United States in 2021, released by the State Council Information Office last week, shows that the human rights situation in the US worsened last year.

For instance, there was a sharp surge in Covid-19 deaths particularly among the most disadvantaged groups due to epidemic prevention and control measures in the country becoming a tool and a bargaining chip for Republicans and Democrats to attack, reject and confront each other.

So far, the Covid-19 pandemic has infected over 34.51 million people in the world’s most developed country, resulting in more than 480,000 deaths — both are the highest in the world. The average life expectancy in the country fell by 1.13 years, the biggest drop since World War II.

Likewise, shooting deaths hit a new record, rising to more than 44,000. With the number of mass shootings in the country numbering 693, up 10.1 per cent from the previous year.

More than 420 bills with provisions that restrict access to voting have been introduced in 49 US states. Only 7 per cent of young US citizens now view the country as a “healthy democracy”, while public trust in the government has fallen to its lowest point since 1958.

Racial discrimination remains serious. Around 81 per cent of Asian American adults said violence against Asian communities is rising. And violent law enforcement claimed 557 lives, the highest number since 1998, which more than doubled that of the previous fiscal year. Most of the victims were colored people.

Moreover, in fiscal year 2021, the US detained more than 1.7 million migrants at its southern border, including 45,000 children.

In the meantime, unilateral US actions have created new humanitarian crises around the world, with Afghanistan as a typical example.

Except for the novel coronavirus pandemic over the past two years, none of these challenges is new. They are all institutional and chronic problems, which serve to highlight the callousness of the holders of power in the US. They have become defenders not of the disadvantaged and vulnerable but of vested interests.

Ironically, the US has never stopped pointing fingers of blame at other countries, and taking human rights protection as a pretext for its interference in other countries’ internal affairs for its own narrow ends.

As more countries realise the hypocrisy of the US in acting as a condescending human rights preacher, the international community should boycott its practices of weaponising a cause that calls for more international cooperation, mutual respect and mutual understanding.

The US tried to reinforce its public persona of “human rights defender” last year by organizing and hosting a so-called Summit for Democracy but its record of human rights violations highlights what a travesty that was.

By Li Yang