'Human Rights' have now become a powerful weapon in the hands of Western powers to meddle in the affairs ofother countries. If classical colonialism was sought to be dressed up in the guise of a 'civilizing mission',the 'white man's burden' today parades in the garb of promoting 'human rights' in the non-white world. As theAmerican invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq so strikingly illustrates, the 'concern' that Western states professfor human rights abuses is selective, and, more than not, completely hypocritical, serving simply as alegitimising tool for pursuing their own hegemonic designs at the cost of millions of lives in the non-whiteworld.
At the same time as America insists on its 'right' to police the world in the name of promoting 'humanrights', the human rights situation in America itself appears to be alarming and to be becoming only moreserious. On 1 March 2004 the Information Office of China's State Council issued a report detailing the seriousviolations of basic human rights within America, and accusing the US of the most crass double-standards in itshuman rights discourse.
The US, the report tells us, is a 'violent, crime-ridden society'. Almost 12 million criminal cases werereported in the country in 2002, with the number of homicide cases being 16,110, as against 15,586 in 2000.The US ranks first in private ownership of guns, and some 350,000 gun-related crimes were reported in 2002.Many of these cases involved juveniles who have easy access to firearms. In 2002 there were said to be some21,500 sinister gangs in the US with a combined membership of around 731,000.
Advertisement
The ratio of prison inmates in the US remains one of the highest in the world. In 2002 the number ofinmates exceeded 2.1 million. In other words, 701 out of every 100,000 people in the country languish injails. Some 700,000 inmates are held in high security jails, many of them being subjected to ruthlesstreatment and humiliation. There have been reports of some of them being put to death by prison guards.
According to a statement issued by Human Rights Watch in September 2003, one in five male inmates in the USfaced forced sexual contact in custody, and one in ten had been raped. Several female inmates are said to havesexual relations with male guards in the hope of better treatment or even to get a can of cola or food. Oneout of six US inmates are said to suffer from various kinds of mental illnesses, including schizophrenia andserious depression. The total population of such patients numbers between 200,000 and 300,000.
The report highlights the growing gulf between the rich and poor in America, and quotes US sources asacknowledging that income inequalities are today wider than anytime in the last 70 years. The wealth of thecountry's richest 1 per cent populations exceeds that of the country's poorest 40 per cent. The number ofpeople living in need and hunger is also steadily increasing, reaching 34.6 million in 2002, or more than 12per cent of the country's population. American blacks are much more likely to be poor, unemployed and homelessthan whites. Black and coloured people received twice or three times more severe penalties than whites for thesame crimes, and the number of blacks who received the death penalty for killing white people was four timesthat of white people who killed blacks. Blacks account for about 47 per cent of the inmates in state prisons,while they form only 13 per cent of the country's total population. The black poverty rate is over 24 percent, and the average black annual income is 40 per cent less than the average American income. Black studentsare also routinely subjected to racial discrimination. Many blacks receive significantly less pay than whiteswith the same qualifications.
The report also criticizes the US for infringing on the rights of immigrants, which, in turn, has had anadverse impact on the human rights of its own citizens. After the incidents of 11 September, 2001, the USCongress passed new draconian laws that permit arrest of immigrants for an indefinite duration, checks on allsecret files, inspection on public and private occasions, and wiretapping of phones. The FBI is now allowed tokeep a watch on people's reading habits, and even to check the booklists of what people borrow from libraries.The freedom of the American press is also gravely threatened today, the report adds. The way the Americanmedia, by and large, has reported the American invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq clearly shows that itfunctions simply as a mouthpiece of the American establishment. News coverage by international media in Iraqis greatly controlled by American restrictions. The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has accused UStroops of frequent 'obstruction of journalists trying to do their jobs in Iraq', and has describes the attackson press freedom there as 'alarming'.
The report also bitterly critiques America's foreign policy and its promotion of war abroad. America, it tellsus, tops the world in terms of military expenditure. America's military spending in 2004 is scheduled to reachmore than 400 billion, more than the total defence budget of all the other countries in the world combined.America is the largest exporter of arms in the world, accounting for a little less than half of the world'sarm trade. It has the highest number of troops stationed overseas-some 364,000 soldiers in over 130countries and regions. It has also consistently used force against other countries on numerous occasions,killing millions and making a total mockery of its claims to promoting human rights. The current Americanoccupation of Iraq has already taken a toll of several thousand innocent Iraqi lives.
The report rounds off its case by insisting that, given its own horrendous record of human rights abuses,America has no moral right arrogating to itself the role of global policeman. The US, it says in conclusion,'should take its own human rights problems seriously, reflect on its erroneous position and behaviour on humanrights, and stop its unpopular interference in other countries' internal affairs under the pretext ofpromoting human rights'.
