Human rights in the US? CDPHR rips off the official façade!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: For the first time, claims of the self-proclaimed champions of human rights in the USA have come under the scanner of the Centre for Democracy, Pluralism and Human Rights (CDPHR) which has ‘exposed’ the abuses rampant in that country.
In its latest report, the New Delhi-based non-profit organization stated the US Constitution supports slavery, the ghost of racism haunts America, Blacks, and minorities are treated as pawns, religious discrimination is rampant, gender discrimination and violence are common, voting rights are suppressed and, what takes the cake, the US has played a key role in creating humanitarian crises the world over!
These findings are contrary to the global image of America. For centuries, it has claimed to be an advocate of human rights, denounced discrimination on the grounds of color, religion, creed, etc., and launched scathing attacks on countries and societies that have profoundly ingrained inequality.
The CDPHR report, however, may leave the US red-faced as it exposes America’s hypocrisy.
It highlighted that the American Constitution still supports slavery. Its parts supporting slavery have not been removed or changed. For example, Article 3 and 4 of the US Constitution allows the enslavers to seize enslaved people and provide severe punishment if an enslaved person tries to escape.
The Constitutions of California and New York states, too, have racist provisions, meant to deny housing and disfranchise Native Americans, respectively. According to the CDPHR report, American law and its courts, responsible for administering justice, are themselves strongholds of apartheid in a country that claims to be the oldest democracy.
The report stated that the law enforcement agencies, legal system, and the judiciary in America have all built up a reputation for corruption and racism.
It highlighted a 1994 law ‘designed’ to ensure that the Blacks face a cruel justice system and long prison terms, benefitting the owners of private prisons. As a result, judges would punish the Blacks more severely than Whites for committing similar crimes.
Claiming that American courts are a hotbed of racism, the report said the Whites get higher posts compared to Blacks, Asians, and Native Americans. The Blacks find it challenging to find jobs even as a clerk and are also handed several wrongful convictions.
Both the political parties—the Democrats and the Republicans—have been hypocritical to end racism, and none of them have framed a comprehensive policy to eradicate it.
The CDPHR report revealed that instead of treating the Blacks, Hispanics, and Muslims as equals with respect, the White supremacist political establishment uses them as pawns and puppets via intermediaries from each ethnic or religious group. The Whites’ organizations control Blacks who are now agitated that Planned Parenthood, a White-controlled outfit, targets Blacks to cull their population.
Not only this, religious minorities, particularly those following non-Abrahamic religions like Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, face discrimination. The country’s zoning laws prevent Hindus and Buddhists from constructing places of worship. The sixth and seventh-grade history curriculum in California requires students to learn that biblical ‘miracles’ were actual historical events. In contrast, textbooks single out Hinduism for cruel treatment and ridicule Hindu beliefs.
According to the CDPHR reports, they deny dignity to Native Americans. The rape rate of their women is 2.5 times higher than the national average, and the child abuse rate is double.
Regarding women’s safety in America, the reports complained about their sexual exploitation by those in power. Citing statistics, it said nearly 1 in every 5 American women has been the victim of rape or attempted rape. Sexual abuse of young children is rampant among government officials and influential politicians. Still, such abuse is covered up or the perpetrators are let off with light sentences. An acquaintance rapes almost half of the rape victims in the USA, the report added.
In the ‘largest democracy’, the government and political parties’ officials often control and rig the election processes. Political parties in America have denied voter identification cards to many Black Americans. Most times, their votes are not even counted.
The CDPHR also exposed the US’ role in violating human rights the world over, either through its foreign policies or initiation of wars.
The US foreign policy is driven by its aim to control all the world’s resources and global politics, and influence everybody’s opinions through persuasion, inducements, the creation of strife, and, finally, the use of force.
Because of America, over 90 million people in Iraq, 70 million in Syria, and 40 million elsewhere have been rendered homeless in the recent past.
It accused the US of maneuvering affairs of other countries through NATO and has also used this European organization as a pawn in spreading conflict and human rights violence in many countries. As a result, 250,000 people in Afghanistan, 130,000 in Yugoslavia, and 350,000 died in Syria.
According to the CDPHR, the American media and their organizations, which claim to protect human rights, often cover up human rights violations in the United States. They also carry false reports of countries that dislike the United States’ policies.
Civil rights activist Arvind Kumar, the co-author of the report, had a first-hand experience of the disturbing human rights issues prevalent in the USA. The researchers reviewed and analyzed human rights documents to find out the parameters, interacted and interviewed with their counterparts to gather data, and withheld their names as per research ethics. Reports of human rights organizations, government agencies’ data, census, and other records were also referred to. “We used news and reports in the public domain, which also includes policy documents of the country. The cases of persecution included in the report are the ones which have come in the open in public media.”
In a statement, the CDPHR said after its victory in the Second World War, the United States set up various global institutions, like the UN, based on lofty ideals to guarantee human rights and help remove human suffering. It took the lead in ratifying conventions and treaties of the UN in making fair and inclusive societies.
Yet, the US itself violated these agreements and perpetuated the wrongdoings that they sought to eliminate. It is responsible for immense suffering inflicted on the people of the USA and the rest of the world. Much of it is because of the inbuilt biases of the system which are often based on racial and religious considerations, with a prejudice against women also playing a significant role.
They built biases into the system by evading the creation of strong democratic institutions, resulting in the denial of voting rights for Black people and other minority races. Rampant election fraud because of lack of voter identification cards, exclusion of independent voters right at the debate stage, and opposition by White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) politicians and judges to any mechanism to ensure voter integrity are features of the American electoral system.
Blacks and Hispanics are used as voter bases by supremacist Whites and are permitted in politics only on the Whites’ terms. Such terms include accepting a subservient role in which the Whites get exalted positions as saviors and leaders.
The USA frequently makes much noise about the freedom of religion, which it fails in practice as it has its own preferred religions. The Hindus have been a particular target of the American political establishment, media, and academia, and the Hindus and Sikhs have often faced violent attacks on the streets.
Not only the Hindus but also Shia Muslims, Mizrahi Jews, and Orthodox Christians are often falsely accused of human rights violations around the world. The US judiciary is heavily loaded with Catholics and Jews of European descent and is biased against Blacks who face a high rate of incarceration and more severe sentences for crimes similar to those committed by Whites, the report said.
The status of women and girls in the USA is secondary and their sexual exploitation in educational institutions is normalized. American women are often targets of violence, especially at the hands of prominent public figures. In these cases, the law has completely failed. They force the women to silently accept the crimes if the perpetrator is a person from a position in politics, media, or business. Men sometimes indirectly control even women’s organizations, forcing women to express political loyalty the way men like.
The USA has used international organizations to push other countries into accepting American dominance. It exerts illegitimate economic control over much of the world and is also culpable of fomenting unrest in various countries and starting wars to continue its dominance even by using or facilitating the use of chemical and biological weapons.
In recent years, free speech rights and freedom of the press have eroded in the US, and Internet controls have been institutionalized. Voices are suppressed on social media, the academia, and the print and broadcast media, which are all forced to speak in one voice matching that of the US government.
Any opinion that is not part of the approved ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ discourse is branded as an ‘extremist’ position, and people with independent positions are hounded out of the public space, the CDPHR said.
