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  • US sees human rights violation abroad but closes eyes at home

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    US violating Human Rights File Photo US violating Human Rights

    Human rights are part to parcel for every society, everyone has right to freedom of thought, conscience and expression but are these rights available only for white in United States.

    A study by experts of Washington University in Lancet and other institutions found that 30,800 people died from police violence in United States between 1980 and 2018, and 17,100 of them were unreported in official statistics reports which includes racial based killing too.

    It is also found that African-Americans were 3 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans. In February last year, UN human rights experts called on the United States to adopt wide reforms to put an end to police brutality and address systemic racism. Unchecked police violence causing frequent deaths of African-Americans in different states.

    Bullying against Asian Americans escalated. Since the Coronavirus began, incidents of Asian-Americans being humiliated and even assaulted in public have been found everywhere. Survey of young Asian-Americans reported by National Broadcasting showed that in last year, a quarter of young Asian-Americans became targets of racial abuse affected by this trend fueled by racist remarks of then American leader, nearly half of the respondents expressed pessimism about their situation.

    In August last year, Human Rights Watch reported that violations of probation and parole adding to jail and prison populations. Many people in the criminal legal system continue to face extortionate fines, as well as bars to accessing public assistance and the right to vote. Black people, and to a lesser extent Latinx people, are still more likely to be imprisoned than white American.

    The Washington Post database has documented about one thousand killings by shootings each of the past five years, revealing significant racial disparities.

    Black people reported being subjected to many forms of police abuse, including non-lethal force, arbitrary arrests and detentions and harassment at higher levels than white people.

    Police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the shooting of Jacob Blake provoked massive protests nationwide calling for police accountability, reduction in scope and power of police, elimination of extortionate court fines and investment in Black communities.Black Lives Matter protests peaked on 6 June 2020, when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across US. That was just single day in more than a month of protests.

    Four recent polls by Civis Analytics a US data science firm that works with businesses and Democratic campaigns suggest that about 15 million to 26 million people in US participated in demonstrations over death of George Floyd in recent weeks. Across United States, there were more than four thousands and seven hundreds demonstrations, an average of 140 per day, since first protests began in Minnesota major city Minneapolis on May 26, according to Times analysis.

    US campaigns in others countries threatened large scale human rights, US launched Afghan War in the name of counter-terrorism. After twenty years, number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan grown from a single digit to more than 20, more than 100,000 civilians have been killed or wounded in gunfire of troops and its ally forces, more than ten million people have been displaced. Afghan War destroyed foundation of the Afghan economy.

    Human Rights Watch reported on two United States airstrikes, on February 2 and March 10, 2020, that killed 7 civilians in apparent violation of the laws of war. While United States Africa Command acknowledged responsibility for February 2 incident.

    US is a country with worst gun violence in the world. The number of mass killings in US hit a record high of 415 in 2019, with more than one happening for every day of year. In total 39,052 people died from gun violence in United States in 2019. A person is killed with a gun in US every 15 minutes.
    Experts says US maintaining hypocrisy of adopting double standards on human rights issues and using them to maintain hegemony.United States touts itself as a world human rights defender. Following a framework of its own understanding of human rights and using its interests of pursuing global hegemony as a yardstick.

    United States released annual reports on other countries every year by compiling hearsay and tampered figures. These reports wantonly distorted and belittled human rights situation in countries that did not conform to US strategic interests, but turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to persistent and large-scale human rights violations in its own country.