Human Rights - The American Double Standard

Human Rights Abuses Committed Daily In the USA Reader please watch the important videos in various places at the end of this text, to get a complete picture of the info presented here. People often think that human rights violations only happen in other areas of the world, not in the United States. In reality, human rights abuses are committed daily in the U.S., even in the most routine aspects of people's lives. Racial profiling, police brutality, prison conditions, and abuses in the "war on terror," are all human rights abuses. Racial profiling is so pervasive that it has impacted nearly 32 million people in the United States - about the population of Canada. Our leaders in the United States, proudly present our country as being an advocate on the front lines for human rights. Lets investigate this double standard, which is a cover for advancing special self-interests... # The USA often has not ratified various international human rights related treaties (and where it has, there have been many, many reservations). # American diplomats were influential in drawing up the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, yet the USA has not always put its words into action. See ... *Human Rights and U.S. Policy In the USA Health Care Is A Privilege Not A Basic Human Right (USA has 47 million uninsured) The United States is the only industrialized nation that views health care as a privilege, not a basic human right. Access to Health Care 101 Wes Clark on the American Health System Health Care in America:My story and Question Regarding the Death Penalty The USA is engaged in a cruel, brutalizing, unreliable, unnecessary and hugely expensive activity for no measurable gain. There is no evidence that the US authorities have prevented a single crime with this policy They have diverted countless millions of dollars away from more constructive efforts to fight crime. And the macabre absurdity is that it creates more victims - the family members of the condemned - often in the name of victims' rights. The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it. The sooner US politicians begin to find the political courage to educate public opinion rather than hide behind it, the better. See ... *Amnesty International There have been about 500,000 murders in the USA since 1977. In the same period, 716 men and women have been executed. This is a punishment, these basic statistics suggest, reserved for the “worst of the worst” of murderers in the USA. But how can that be true if, for example, learning disabled prisoners are among the condemned? It is time they [U.S. leaders] took it upon themselves to measure US standards of decency against the aspirations of the international community on the death penalty. Most of us are aware of police brutality. Here is a 450 page report by ... *Human Rights Watch The American Prison Industrial Complex See ... *Economic Apartheid in America The USA has the world's largest prison population of roughly 2 million people, which accounts for about a quarter of the world's prison population. America's incarceration rate was roughly constant from 1925 to 1973, with an average of 110 people behind bars for every 100,000 residents. By 2000, however, the rate of incarceration in state and federal prisons had more than quadrupled, to 478. America has overtaken Russia as the world's most aggressive jailer. When local jails are included in the American tally, the United States locks up nearly 700 people per 100,000, compared with 102 for Canada, 132 for England and Wales, 85 for France and a paltry 48 in Japan. USA Kicked Off the United Nations Human Rights Commission At the beginning of May, 2001, the United States lost its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission for the first time since the panel's founding in 1947. (The Human Rights Commission assigns investigators to probe abuses around the world.) The U.S. was voted off by their allies (not by their enemies.) See ... *U.S. Arrogance on Display in UN Human Rights Commission Flap Critics had pointed out that the U.S's recent “go-alone” stances on many international issues had been factors as well. Examples include not supporting the international criminal court, not supporting the international landmine treaty, its stance on the death penalty, not paying its dues at the U.N. (leaving it to others to make up in some way, especially European nations), backing down from Kyoto, and so on. Admittedly, the U.S. has been more vocal than many nations on some human rights issues, but when it has come to major initiatives and substantial changes to promote and support human rights, the U.S. has, as mentioned above, often been alone, acting in their own interests, as some examples throughout this web site will show. See ... *International Criminal Court (scroll down) *Landmines *Kyoto The USA A Rogue Nation When it has come to major initiatives and substantial changes to promote and support human rights, the U.S. has often been a Rogue Nation acting alone, in its own best interests ... See ... *Rogue Nation *Noam Chomsky Archive It is interesting to look at the USA's position on some of the standard international human rights treaties, given the USA's vocal position on human rights and insistence that it is the premier promoter of human rights. Of the twelve main treaties, the United States has only signed the following, but not ratified any of them (as of 21 August, 2002): See ... *International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights *Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women *Convention on the Rights of the Child American Read My Lips Service Also as of 21 August, 2002, the USA has not either signed or ratified the following: *International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families *Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights *Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of soldiers refusing to participate in the war and occupation in Iraq. They have applied for conscientious objector (CO) status, which would allow them exemption from participation in war, based on reasons of conscience or conviction. However, the US government has denied most of these petitions and has aggressively pursued soldiers who have gone absent without leave (AWOL), a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of death by firing squad. See ... *Recently released conscientious objectors *Cases Pending *Women's Human Rights The following videos are disturbing, but you need to see what is really going on in your name ... Human rights violations in Iraq's US-run prisons Doctors of the World-USA - Health is a Human Right America illegally kidnaps imprisons /abuses U.S.children Stop Torturing - The USA Should Not Torture Prisoners Video Guantanamo detainee talks about David Hicks Waterboarding illegal? Also see ... *The Chain Gang - USA Other Reference *Send Lawyers, Guhs, and Money Stumble It!

Human Rights - The American Double Standard

Human Rights Abuses Committed Daily In the USA Reader please watch the important videos in various places at the end of this text, to get a complete picture of the info presented here. People often think that human rights violations only happen in other areas of the world, not in the United States. In reality, human rights abuses are committed daily in the U.S., even in the most routine aspects of people's lives. Racial profiling, police brutality, prison conditions, and abuses in the "war on terror," are all human rights abuses. Racial profiling is so pervasive that it has impacted nearly 32 million people in the United States - about the population of Canada. Our leaders in the United States, proudly present our country as being an advocate on the front lines for human rights. Lets investigate this double standard, which is a cover for advancing special self-interests... # The USA often has not ratified various international human rights related treaties (and where it has, there have been many, many reservations). # American diplomats were influential in drawing up the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, yet the USA has not always put its words into action. See ... *Human Rights and U.S. Policy In the USA Health Care Is A Privilege Not A Basic Human Right (USA has 47 million uninsured) The United States is the only industrialized nation that views health care as a privilege, not a basic human right. Access to Health Care 101 Wes Clark on the American Health System Health Care in America:My story and Question Regarding the Death Penalty The USA is engaged in a cruel, brutalizing, unreliable, unnecessary and hugely expensive activity for no measurable gain. There is no evidence that the US authorities have prevented a single crime with this policy They have diverted countless millions of dollars away from more constructive efforts to fight crime. And the macabre absurdity is that it creates more victims - the family members of the condemned - often in the name of victims' rights. The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it. The sooner US politicians begin to find the political courage to educate public opinion rather than hide behind it, the better. See ... *Amnesty International There have been about 500,000 murders in the USA since 1977. In the same period, 716 men and women have been executed. This is a punishment, these basic statistics suggest, reserved for the “worst of the worst” of murderers in the USA. But how can that be true if, for example, learning disabled prisoners are among the condemned? It is time they [U.S. leaders] took it upon themselves to measure US standards of decency against the aspirations of the international community on the death penalty. Most of us are aware of police brutality. Here is a 450 page report by ... *Human Rights Watch The American Prison Industrial Complex See ... *Economic Apartheid in America The USA has the world's largest prison population of roughly 2 million people, which accounts for about a quarter of the world's prison population. America's incarceration rate was roughly constant from 1925 to 1973, with an average of 110 people behind bars for every 100,000 residents. By 2000, however, the rate of incarceration in state and federal prisons had more than quadrupled, to 478. America has overtaken Russia as the world's most aggressive jailer. When local jails are included in the American tally, the United States locks up nearly 700 people per 100,000, compared with 102 for Canada, 132 for England and Wales, 85 for France and a paltry 48 in Japan. USA Kicked Off the United Nations Human Rights Commission At the beginning of May, 2001, the United States lost its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission for the first time since the panel's founding in 1947. (The Human Rights Commission assigns investigators to probe abuses around the world.) The U.S. was voted off by their allies (not by their enemies.) See ... *U.S. Arrogance on Display in UN Human Rights Commission Flap Critics had pointed out that the U.S's recent “go-alone” stances on many international issues had been factors as well. Examples include not supporting the international criminal court, not supporting the international landmine treaty, its stance on the death penalty, not paying its dues at the U.N. (leaving it to others to make up in some way, especially European nations), backing down from Kyoto, and so on. Admittedly, the U.S. has been more vocal than many nations on some human rights issues, but when it has come to major initiatives and substantial changes to promote and support human rights, the U.S. has, as mentioned above, often been alone, acting in their own interests, as some examples throughout this web site will show. See ... *International Criminal Court (scroll down) *Landmines *Kyoto The USA A Rogue Nation When it has come to major initiatives and substantial changes to promote and support human rights, the U.S. has often been a Rogue Nation acting alone, in its own best interests ... See ... *Rogue Nation *Noam Chomsky Archive It is interesting to look at the USA's position on some of the standard international human rights treaties, given the USA's vocal position on human rights and insistence that it is the premier promoter of human rights. Of the twelve main treaties, the United States has only signed the following, but not ratified any of them (as of 21 August, 2002): See ... *International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights *Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women *Convention on the Rights of the Child American Read My Lips Service Also as of 21 August, 2002, the USA has not either signed or ratified the following: *International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families *Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights *Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of soldiers refusing to participate in the war and occupation in Iraq. They have applied for conscientious objector (CO) status, which would allow them exemption from participation in war, based on reasons of conscience or conviction. However, the US government has denied most of these petitions and has aggressively pursued soldiers who have gone absent without leave (AWOL), a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of death by firing squad. See ... *Recently released conscientious objectors *Cases Pending *Women's Human Rights The following videos are disturbing, but you need to see what is really going on in your name ... Human rights violations in Iraq's US-run prisons Doctors of the World-USA - Health is a Human Right America illegally kidnaps imprisons /abuses U.S.children Stop Torturing - The USA Should Not Torture Prisoners Video Guantanamo detainee talks about David Hicks Waterboarding illegal? Also see ... *The Chain Gang - USA Other Reference *Send Lawyers, Guhs, and Money