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Are human rights a US monopoly?

WION
New Delhi, IndiaEdited By: Gravitas deskUpdated: Mar 31, 2021, 11:47 PM IST
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US President Joe Biden (file photo) Photograph:(AFP)

Story highlights

The State Department released reports on the rights situation last year in nearly 200 countries, which are required annually by law

The United States highlighted a deteriorating picture for human rights across the world on Tuesday.

The State Department released reports on the rights situation last year in nearly 200 countries, which are required annually by law.

The report states that India has several significant human right issues including unlawful and arbitrary killings, restrictions on freedom of expression, corruption and tolerance of violations of religious freedom.

However, it appreciated the restoration of normalcy in Kashmir, saying ''The government continued taking steps to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir by gradually lifting some security and communications restrictions.''

The trendlines on human rights continue to move in the wrong direction, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

Governments that respect human rights are more likely to support the rules-based international order that the US and its allies have built and invested in for decades and decades, Blinken said.

Some have argued that it is not worth it for the US to speak up forcefully for human rights or highlight abuse only in select countries and only in a way that "directly advances our national interests", he noted.

"We will hear from some countries as we do every year that we have no right to criticise them because we have our own challenges to deal with," he said. 

America's judgement is unsolicited as neither India nor any other country asked for the report.

The information for the report is collected from random sources NGOs, academics and activists. Their opinions are influenced by their politics.

The report praises allies of the United States. Blinken himself admitted that the US has to work on itself and is open towards the idea. 

George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd lay on the pavement in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Floyd’s death has sparked global protests about racial inequality and police brutality, and renewed pledges from some to fight racism.

The number of immigrant families apprehended by US agents along the southern border nearly tripled in February from a month earlier to about 19,000 people. Hunger and poverty are spurring their flight. So is disinformation that has rocketed across social media and by word of mouth that the US border is now wide open.

According to government statistics, on Monday the Department of Health and Human Services, had 12,035 migrant children in its care, while the US Customs and Border Protection, the agency which first processes migrants, was holding another 4,068. 

American troops deployed all across the world commit horrendous crimes in the name of security and get get a free pass for them in there country.

American presidents have carpet-bombed civilians and starved rival nations with sanctions.