Human Rights Record of the United States

This article is about a specific Chinese publication. For general coverage of the topic, see Human rights in the United States.

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The Human Rights Record of the United States (informally referred to as the "China Human Rights Report") is a publication on the annual human rights record in the United States of America, published by the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The report was first issued in 1998 as a response to the United States' practice of criticizing China in its own annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which each of the Chinese reports cites in the first paragraph.

The report

The Human Rights Record of the United States is published as a retort to U.S. criticism of China's human rights policies^[1] in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, published by the State Department of the United States.^[2] The Chinese report states that the State Department reports are "full of distortions and accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China. However, the United States turned a blind eye to its own terrible human rights situation and seldom mentioned it." It says that the United States uses the human rights issues as "a political instrument to defame other nations' image and seek its own strategic interests." The report asserts ""[The U.S. State department] released the 'Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' year after year to accuse and blame other countries for their human rights practices. These moves fully expose the United States' hypocrisy by exercising double standards on human rights and its malicious design to pursue hegemony under the pretext of human rights."^[3]

The Report criticizes U.S. domestic social and economic issues, such as poverty, crime and racism. Some of the data cited in the report is derived from official or authoritative sources; other sections are composed from a variety of material found online, some of which may be anecdotal.^[4]

Regarding the 2010 report, Fareed Zakaria wrote: "The report loses itself and takes away from the more serious charges it does make about Guantanamo Bay and CIA detention facilities. The Chinese government should get the report done by serious Chinese scholars, of whom there are many, rather than the propaganda department of its Communist Party, which seems to have written this one."^[5]

2003 Report

The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2003, published on March 1, 2004, criticizes the USA PATRIOT Act, saying it has "encroached upon rights and freedom of citizens, especially the people of ethnic minorities."^{[6][non-primary source needed]} It also argues that the freedom of press has been neglected, citing examples such as the firing of Peter Arnett and limited access to al Jazeera television broadcasts.^{[7][non-primary source needed]} The report emphasized U.S. military actions abroad, including the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, conducted without the approval of the United Nations.^{[citation needed]}

The report concludes that the United States should "reflect on its erroneous position and behavior on human rights, and stop its unpopular interference with other countries' internal affairs under the pretext of promoting human rights".^{[8][non-primary source needed]}

2004 Report

The 2004 report stated:

In 2004 the atrocity of U.S. troops abusing Iraqi POWs exposed the dark side of human rights performance of the United States. The scandal shocked the public and was condemned by the international community. It is quite ironic that on Feb. 28 of this year, the State Department of the United States once again posed as 'the world human rights police' and released its 'Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004'. As in previous years, the reports pointed fingers at human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions (including China) but kept silent on the U.S. misdeeds in this field. Therefore, the world people have to probe the human rights record behind the Statue of Liberty in the United States.^[9]

2010 Report

Xinhua News Agency posted the text of the 2010 report on its website.^[10][11] It stated in part, "The violation of [US] citizens' civil and political rights by the government is severe … the United States applies double standards … by requesting unrestricted 'internet freedom' in other countries, which becomes an important diplomatic tool for the United States to impose pressure and seek hegemony, and imposing strict restriction within its territory.^[12]

Position of the U.S. Government and Department of State

In response, the official position of the United States Government and the United States Department of State is that it does not report on human rights within the United States due to the possibility that any such reporting might be viewed as governmental propaganda, and would lack credibility. The State Department says that it does not mean to imply that the US has no human rights issues.

The government and the State Department take no position on the Chinese report, other than to note that it is fully proper and consistent with the principles of reciprocity that govern diplomatic relations between sovereign states. It may note problems which the US needs to work on, as do the reports of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and numerous other international and United States NGOs.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• History of human rights
• Human rights
• Human rights in the People's Republic of China
• Human rights in the United States
• National Human Rights Action Plan
• And you are lynching Negroes

References

1. ^ http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-04/10/c_13822179.htm
2. ^ http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-04/10/c_13822287.htm
3. ^ http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-04/10/c_13822179.htm
4. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/11/china-us-human-rights-double-standards
5. ^ http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/18/what-in-the-world-china-calls-out-the-u-s-on-human-rights/
6. ^ I. "On Life, Freedom and Personal Safety" // The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2003
7. ^ II. On Political Rights and Freedom // The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2003
8. ^ VI. "On Infringement upon Human Rights of Other Nations" // The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2003
9. ^ Introduction // Full text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2004
10. ^ Full Text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2010, Xinhua News Agency, 2011-04-10
11. ^ Facts and Figures: U.S. human rights situation, Xinhua News Agency, 2011-04-10
12. ^ "China says US human rights position is a double standard", The Guardian

External links

• "China Releases Annual Human Rights Report", Political Affairs
• Reuters, "China hits back on human rights", CNN
• Human Rights Records in the United States (in 1998)
• U.S. Human Rights Record in 1999
• US Human Rights Record in 2000
• Full text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2001
• Summary of The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2002
• Full text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2003
• Full text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2004
• Full text of Human Rights Record of the US in 2005
• Human Rights Record of the U.S. in 2006
• Human Rights Record of the U.S. in 2007
• Human Rights Record of the U.S. in 2008
• Human Rights Record of the U.S. in 2009
• Human Rights Record of the U.S. in 2010