Recognize the hypocritical nature of American human rights (authoritative forum)

　　On January 11, 2018, people participated in protests outside the White House in Washington, DC, demanding the closure of Guantanamo prison. The prison is used to hold suspects captured by the US military in the global anti-terrorism operation after the "9.11" incident, and it is notorious for many scandals of prisoner abuse. Xinhua News Agency reporter Yin Bogu photo

　　On May 23, 2021, people took part in a parade in Minneapolis, USA to mourn Freud. Xinhua News Agency/AFP

　　On April 9, 1999, in a village near Chupia, a small town in the Serbian Republic of Yugoslavia, 42-year-old Vera Mihalovic stood in front of the bombed house and burst into tears. Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Wenshe

　　On December 16, 2003, US troops stationed in Afghanistan patrolled Wardak province in central Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan is the longest overseas war in American history. Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Leishe

　　Chang Jian (Director, Center for Human Rights Studies, Nankai University)

　　Li Yunlong (Professor, Institute of International Strategy, Central Party School (National School of Administration))

　　He Zhipeng (Dean of Law School of Jilin University, Director of Human Rights Research Center)

　　Hao Yaming (Professor guizhou minzu university)

　　Zhang Qile (Director, Non-traditional Security and Human Rights Research Center, Institute of Human Rights, Southwest University of Political Science and Law)

　　Hao Luyi (Associate Research Fellow, Institute of International Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

　　Political manipulation led to the highest death rate in COVID-19 in the world, shootings claimed many innocent lives, violent law enforcement made immigrant refugees in a difficult situation, discrimination and attacks against ethnic minorities intensified, and unilateralism triggered a humanitarian disaster in the world … … In recent years, the domestic human rights situation in the United States has been deteriorating, and hegemonism and arson have intensified regional conflicts and crises. The United States claims to be the "defender of human rights", which is actually the "biggest destroyer of human rights in the world", and its hypocrisy is being exposed by more and more countries and people in the world.

　　[1]

　　How to evaluate the human rights situation in the United States in recent years, especially the issues related to gun violence, COVID-19 epidemic, racial discrimination and forced labor?

　　Li Yunlong: The proliferation of guns has led to a surge in gun-related violence, murder and suicide, which has become a "chronic disease" that is difficult to cure in American society. On May 14th this year, 10 people were killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. On May 24th, the shooting at Rob Elementary School in Iuvaldi, Texas killed 21 people, including 19 children. During the three-day "Independence Day" holiday this year, there were more than 500 shooting incidents in almost every state in the United States, resulting in at least 220 deaths and nearly 570 injuries … … These are just the tip of the iceberg of gun violence in the United States. In 2021 alone, there were more than 690 cases of vicious gun violence in the United States, and the number of deaths caused by shooting incidents reached a record high of more than 44,000.

　　A gunshot reflects the reality of American governance failure. What is the important reason for the proliferation of guns in the United States? One is the deformed gun culture. American society unilaterally puts individual rights above social security, only talks about the rights of gunmen, and does not talk about the threat and harm of private guns to others. They absolutize the individual right to bear guns, holding that the right to bear guns is the "inherent natural right" of Americans, and declaring that "guns are the guarantee of freedom" and "restricting guns means restricting individual freedom". This deformed gun culture, which infinitely magnifies individual rights and exaggerates the meaning of owning guns, has become the mainstream of American society, dominated the administrative, legislative and judicial processes, shaped the social operation mode and personal behavior mode, and led to the proliferation of guns and endless violent incidents.

　　Second, interest groups prevent the United States from controlling guns. The United States has a huge gun manufacturing, sales and service industry, and it is developing rapidly. The revenue of American gun and ammunition industry has grown rapidly, from $19.1 billion in 2008 to $70.5 billion in 2021. The gun industry has joined forces to form powerful interest groups and carried out extensive gun lobbying and publicity activities. From 1998 to 2020, American anti-gun interest groups spent more than $170 million on political lobbying. These interest groups provide a large number of political donations, deeply involved in the US presidential election and congressional elections, and help politicians who support gun rights win elections.

　　Third, the fierce struggle between the two parties weakened gun control. Democracy in the United States continues to decline, and political polarization is becoming increasingly serious. 90% of Democratic supporters think that the bill to reduce gun violence should take precedence over the bill to protect gun rights, while 56% of Republican supporters think that the bill to protect gun rights should take precedence over the bill to reduce gun violence. The fierce struggle between the two parties has made it difficult to advance gun control legislation, or made the gun control bill empty.

　　Hao Yaming: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, in the United States, which has advanced medical technology and rich medical resources, people’s rights to life and health have been ignored and harmed, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases and deaths has ranked first in the world. Among them, indigenous people, Latinos and African-Americans have been affected by the epidemic far more seriously than whites, and racial inequality is prominent. It can be said that the epidemic is like a mirror, reflecting the long-standing and deep-rooted racial discrimination in the United States.

　　The long-standing institutional, systematic and structural racism in American society fully shows that human rights in the United States are neither universal nor equal among different races. Ethnic minorities are subjected to naked unfair treatment in the field of law enforcement and justice, and there is an obvious gap with the main race in the field of economic and social security, and they are subjected to various explicit or implicit differential treatments in their daily social life.

　　Take the field of law enforcement as an example. On May 25th, 2020, the news that George Floyd, an African-American man, was brutally killed by a white policeman on his knees in Minneapolis, Minnesota, shocked the whole world. However, the above incident is by no means a case. On July 17, 2014, several white police officers in new york suffocated Eric Garner when arresting him, who was forbidden by law. Ghana didn’t carry any weapons and went all the way to hands in the air. Despite repeated complaints that he couldn’t breathe, he was still strangled from behind and his head was pushed to the sidewalk, eventually losing consciousness and leading to death. After the "George Freud incident", "I can’t breathe" became synonymous with African-Americans’ opposition to police violence and even racial discrimination. The image of Freud’s dying cry of "I can’t breathe" and his pleading for struggle once again aroused the tragic memory of African-Americans.

　　Zhang Qile: Forced labor is a cancer rooted in the founding history and social reality of the United States. From the founding of the United States in 1776 to the publication of the Declaration on the Emancipation of Black Slaves in 1862, slavery in the United States has been "legal" for more than 80 years, accounting for one third of its history since its founding. Back to the European colonial era, from 1514 to 1866, at least 36,000 "slave expeditions" sold millions of black slaves to the United States. It can be said that American history is intertwined with forced labor to a great extent, and this dark history continues in the United States today.

　　Forced labor is everywhere in all walks of life. According to an article on the website of the University of Denver, there are at least 500,000 people living in modern slavery and forced labor in the United States. This problem is particularly prominent in 23 industries, such as domestic economics, agricultural cultivation, tourism sales, catering industry, medical care and beauty services. Today, forced labor in the United States is more hidden than at any time in history, and even some industries still have institutional support in forced labor. It is worth noting that the United States is also one of the countries with the least number of ratifications of international labor conventions.

　　The problem of employing child labor is shocking. The United States is the only Member State of the United Nations that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. According to the non-profit organization "American Farm Workers Employment Training Program", there are still about 500,000 child laborers engaged in agricultural work in the United States. Many children start working at the age of 8 and work for 72 hours a week. Child farm workers have been exposed to dangerous chemicals such as pesticides for a long time. In addition, they need to operate sharp tools and heavy machinery, and face greater risk of work-related injuries due to lack of necessary training and protective measures.

　　Prisons are the hardest hit areas for forced labor. The population of the United States is less than 5% of the world’s total population, while the prison population accounts for a quarter of the world’s imprisoned population, making it the country with the highest incarceration rate and the largest number of imprisoned people in the world. American prisons spend less than 1% of the total budget to pay prisoners’ wages, while the total value of products and services created by prison workers exceeds $11 billion every year. Prison labor brings considerable economic benefits, which provides motivation for forced labor in prisons and abuse of prison labor by large American enterprises.

　　Among them, the problem of private prisons can be described as a "black hole that devours human rights in the United States." In the 1980s, under the banner of "relieving the pressure of asylum and reducing the cost of imprisonment", the US government contracted public prisons to private enterprises by purchasing services. In order to maximize the benefits, private prisons not only force prisoners to engage in high-intensity and low-paid labor for a long time, making them work like slaves, but also obtain "headcount fees" from government subsidies by increasing the "occupancy rate". Driven by huge profits, the scale of private prisons in the United States has expanded rapidly, and the number of prisons has increased 16 times in the 20 years from 1990 to 2010.

　　[2]

　　In recent years, the human rights situation in the United States has further deteriorated. What are the reasons? Why is this situation difficult to change?

　　Chang Jian: The continuous deterioration of the human rights situation in the United States is the result of the interaction of its polarized economic distribution pattern, the social pattern of racial division and the political pattern controlled by money and interest groups. In the economic field, statistics from the US Census Bureau show that in 2019, the income inequality in the United States was at the highest level in 50 years, two-thirds of the wealth was occupied by the richest 5%, and more than 38 million Americans lived in poverty; In the social field, ethnic minorities suffer from serious discrimination, which leads to an increasingly divided society; In the political field, money manipulates the political process, which makes the government more representative of the interests of the rich and the socially powerful groups, and the basic human rights of the disadvantaged groups cannot be really guaranteed. In 2021, the Institute of Politics of Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University released a survey of young Americans aged 18 to 29. According to the survey, 52% of the respondents thought that American democracy was "in trouble" or "failed", while only 7% thought that American democracy was "healthy".

　　He Zhipeng: Although the human rights situation in the United States has further deteriorated, the United States "does not want to change, is not easy to change, and does not dare to change" on a series of issues. The so-called "don’t want to change" is because there is a mainstream sense of superiority in American political thought, that is, the country is dominated by the elite and the concept of "white supremacy" is deeply rooted in their bones. In their cognition, there is no need to change the relevant norms for the benefit of ethnic minorities. The so-called "hard to change" is because the United States has formed a relatively stable bureaucratic system for a long time. Parliamentary politics in the name of democracy has brought about a policy operation mode that reduces efficiency in pursuit of balance, and it is not easy to make rapid responses and effective efforts for good human rights goals. The so-called "dare not change" is because there are big consortia and industrial giants behind American politics. Based on their own interests, they have no motivation to reform the existing American human rights policy, but they have strong doubts and precautions against changing the existing human rights pattern. In this context, it is undoubtedly difficult for the United States to improve the existing normative framework and social structure and make the human rights situation better.

　　The impact of a series of human rights issues in the United States is far-reaching. In recent years, under the background that the economic situation is challenged by the lack of motivation for industrial upgrading in the United States and the severe development of the financial industry, the human rights situation in the United States is even more embarrassing. At the same time, the endless problems of educational discrimination, employment discrimination, private prisons, forced labor and child labor have also had a negative impact on the economic and social development of the United States. In the face of many internal problems, the US government not only failed to strengthen governance reform, but also tried every means to lead the disaster abroad and divert the public’s attention through the spillover of contradictions. In international relations, more and more governments, people and society have clearly seen the human rights situation in the United States. In their view, the United States, as a superpower, has not taken on the responsibility of international governance well, but instead seeks its own strength in a selfish way, which is untrustworthy.

　　[3]

　　The United States frequently interferes in other countries’ internal affairs abroad, and even violently intervenes by force, which seriously damages the global human rights cause. What do you think of American intervention and what is its motivation?

　　He Zhipeng: The United States is the country that interferes in other countries’ internal affairs most frequently in the world. As early as the 19th century, the United States interfered with the judicial jurisdiction of semi-colonial countries in the name of exercising "consular jurisdiction". After entering the 20th century, the United States continued to use similar excuses to commit a series of evil deeds, such as interfering in Grenada’s internal affairs and launching an armed invasion of Panama. After World War II, under the banner of "defending democracy", "humanitarianism" and "opposing terrorism", the United States wantonly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries and forcibly reformed their political and social systems, resulting in many humanitarian disasters. Korean War, Vietnam War, Panama War, Kosovo War, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Libya War, Syria War … … The United States often threatens the sovereignty of other countries and launches foreign military actions at will. According to American statistics, from 1992 to 2017, the United States intervened in foreign military affairs as high as 188 times.

　　The wars launched by the United States have seriously undermined a series of principles of international law and basic norms of international relations in law, which has destroyed the international legal order; Economically depriving other countries of development opportunities, or even plundering other countries’ property, seriously damaging the development rights and interests of relevant countries and people; Politically, it ignores the legitimacy of the legitimate government of other countries, deliberately destroys the political system of other countries, and makes world politics fall into the trap of great powers; It has created many global and regional refugee problems and humanitarian disasters, making many countries and people feel insecure about their own survival.

　　Chang Jian: The United States is a country controlled by capital, and its various evils in the international community are supported and promoted by capital interest groups. The United States launched a war with foreign countries, which was promoted by the military-industrial complex; Arbitrary interference in the internal affairs of some countries is closely related to the interests of oil, gas and energy interest groups; Waving sanctions against other countries reflects the strategic intention of finance, technology and commercial capital. The nature of capital is global expansion and monopoly control, which determines that the main strategic purpose of the US government is to maintain its hegemonic position in the world, support American capital and stifle possible competitors at all costs.

　　Hao Luyi: In recent years, the immigration problem in the border areas of the United States has continued to deteriorate, and the right to life, personal dignity and freedom of immigrants have been seriously violated, and the situation is tragic. On June 27 this year, a tragedy occurred in the tragic car of illegal immigrants in San Antonio, Texas, USA, killing 53 people. This is one of the most serious immigrant deaths in the United States in recent years.

　　On the issue of illegal immigrants, the United States has implemented extremely severe and cruel measures and high-handed actions in border areas, arresting immigrants on a large scale, forcing them to be separated from their families and arbitrarily expelling them. Violations of the human rights of transit migrants, refugees and abuses are frequent.

　　In 2018, the US government implemented the "separation of flesh and blood" policy, forcing a large number of immigrant children to be separated from their parents and families and held separately. This act is a serious violation of international human rights law and international humanitarianism, and has been strongly condemned by the international community including the United Nations. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized it as "child abuse approved by the government".

　　According to statistics, in 2021, US law enforcement agencies arrested about 1.7 million illegal immigrants on the US-Mexico border, the highest in 20 years, including 145,000 children. Some media have disclosed pictures of migrant children being held in "large cages" and recordings of crying for their parents, saying that the temporary resettlement sites where separated children live are shabby and crude, and these children are facing violent law enforcement and their physical and mental health is worrying.

　　[4]

　　The human rights situation in the United States has seriously deteriorated, but instead it pretends to be a "human rights teacher", pointing fingers at other countries and even interfering in other countries’ internal affairs in the name of protecting human rights. How to understand the "double standard of human rights" in the United States, and what is the true face behind it?

　　Chang Jian: The "double standard of human rights" in the United States is the manifestation of its politicization of human rights. The so-called "politicization of human rights" mainly refers to a political motivation to deal with human rights issues with a political pragmatism, using human rights as a tool to realize a political strategy and as an excuse to infringe on the sovereignty of other countries and interfere in their internal affairs. The logic followed by the politicization of human rights is to label political opponents as "human rights violations" first, and then look for evidence of "human rights violations" from all kinds of rumors, speculations and even fabrications to achieve the purpose of vilifying and defeating political opponents. Under this logical chain, human rights have nothing to do with human values and dignity, and whether political opponents violate human rights. The only important thing is to seize the moral high ground, so that political opponents are accused of being besieged and discredited morally and politically, and forced to act according to the will of the attackers.

　　The concrete manifestation of the "double standards of human rights" in the United States is that it pursues two sets of standards on human rights issues in its own country and other countries. Although there are a large number of human rights violations in the United States, in its annual national human rights report, the United States avoids talking about its own human rights problems, and instead arrogantly accuses other countries of human rights problems. The second is to pursue two sets of standards for "allies" and "non-allies". The United States tends to take a "blind eye" and "silent" attitude towards human rights issues in "allies" countries or friendly countries; For countries with different ideological, political and social systems or conflicting interests, their human rights issues will be highlighted by the United States, and even various forms of sanctions will be imposed. The third is to adopt two sets of standards for a country at different times. If a country’s policies in a certain period violate the interests of the US government, human rights issues can be used to accuse, coerce and sanction the country. When the country caters to the interests of the American government, human rights issues may be treated in a secondary position or ignored.

　　Hao Luyi: The American "double standard of human rights" is vividly reflected in the immigration issue. The United States flaunts that "human rights are above sovereignty" and "human rights are supreme", puts its own will above the interests of other countries and people’s well-being, arbitrarily interferes in other countries’ internal affairs, intensifies internal contradictions and intensifies social unrest. America’s rough intervention in Latin America has caused many areas to face social problems such as poverty, unemployment, hunger and violent crimes, which has led people in these areas to try to enter the United States instead. In this regard, the US government did not seek a solution to the problem from the root, but adopted a severe punitive immigration policy, which impacted the immigration situation in the border areas of the United States and dragged the illegal immigration problem into a long-term quagmire.

　　When dealing with domestic immigration affairs, the United States blatantly engages in xenophobia on the grounds of "safeguarding national security", expelling and excluding specific races, which is not restricted by the constitutional judicial review system, and nakedly embodies American double standards. A typical example is that in 2017, the United States issued an executive order entitled "National Protection Plan to Prevent Foreign Terrorists from Entering the United States", which once prohibited citizens of many Islamic countries from entering the United States. This act once caused widespread protests in the United States and abroad because it was suspected of discriminating against a specific race. However, the US Supreme Court upheld the executive order on the grounds of "national security". With the endorsement of judicial decisions, the immigration field has become an "extra-legal place", which is the institutional root of the existence, continuation and even concentrated outbreak of xenophobia in American immigration policy in a specific period.

　　[5]

　　What harm has the United States’ reckless behavior on human rights issues brought to world stability and development, and what bad influence has it had on global human rights good governance? How should countries around the world better understand the hypocritical nature of the United States on human rights issues?

　　Chang Jian: The politicization of human rights in the United States is undermining the foundation of good global human rights governance. It has split the global human rights cause, turned the international stage of global human rights governance into a battlefield of political confrontation, blocked the channels of human rights dialogue and exchange, and made it impossible to achieve mutual understanding and learning from each other in the field of human rights. The international community should clearly oppose the bad behavior of politicizing human rights, abandon the practice of human rights confrontation, open up dialogue and exchanges on human rights, build a community of human destiny together in the spirit of human family, promote the development of global human rights governance in a fair, just, reasonable and inclusive direction, and make people all over the world truly feel the happiness, peace and security brought about by safeguarding human rights.

　　He Zhipeng: People’s sense of acquisition, happiness and security are the signs of the development and progress of human rights. People’s perception of a happy life is the goal of the human rights system, and people’s evaluation of a happy life is the yardstick of the human rights system. A good human rights governance model will promote the continuous improvement of economic, social, political and cultural life. On the other hand, a bad human rights record will gradually reduce people’s confidence in the country and society. Human rights in the United States are a part of human rights in the world, and they also have an impact on human rights in other countries in the world. People all over the world need to see clearly the true face of American human rights, reveal many problems in American human rights thought and practice, and urge the United States to constantly reflect on itself, change chauvinism and political hegemonism as a cultural power, avoid attacking other countries under the pretext of human rights, actively participate in human rights dialogue and cooperation, and finally promote the formation of a good world human rights pattern.

　　Zhang Qile: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights". This concept of "equality" means that different countries, different nationalities and different colors should enjoy equal rights. At present, the United States gives priority to "American priority" and "American interests" in everything it does in the world, and puts its own interests above other countries and nations. The United States has set the topic of human rights in the international arena, set its position and forced other countries to take sides. This series of practices has seriously disrupted the international political situation and brought unstable factors to world politics, economy and society. In recent years, more and more countries have become more aware of the essence of human rights in the United States, and more and more countries have expressed their dissatisfaction with American hegemony, realizing that the "beacon of human rights" in the United States is just a conceited self-promotion and has become an international laughing stock.

　　Hao Yaming: The United States is neither a "top student" nor a "teacher" in the domestic or international human rights field. Facts for a long time have repeatedly shown that the United States is not most concerned about the improvement of the global human rights situation, nor does it intend to promote the progress of the human rights cause of all mankind. In the eyes of American authorities, human rights are just a tool, and the importance of safeguarding national interests and striving for world hegemony is higher than human rights progress. The instrumental use of human rights in the United States not only harms the interests of individual countries and people, but also has a bad influence on the long-term healthy development of the global human rights cause.

　　(Interview by our reporter Chen Shangwen)