Zhong Sheng
Under the current U.S. administration, immigration issue has been rapidly politicized, and tens of thousands of migrant children have been held in custody and forced to be separated from their parents.
Accused by all sides of the inhumane immigration policies, Washington, instead of changing the relevant policies, has repeatedly resisted the supervision and investigation of the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations. Its hypocrisy and arrogance on human rights issues is clearly revealed.
Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement in July of this year, saying she was appalled by the bad conditions at the U.S. detention facilities for illegal immigrants.
She particularly commented that the U.S. may risk breaching the UN convention against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by holding the migrant children in custody.
On June 2, 2018, an independent expert report on human rights and international solidarity, in accordance with the resolution 35/3 of the UN Human Rights Council, pointed out that the U.S., driven by populism, slandered and smeared the immigrants with racist and xenophobic expressions and forced apart the migrant children and their parents, seriously endangering the life, dignity, liberty and other human rights of immigrants.
The UN Human Rights Council has revealed the essence of the U.S. human rights crisis caused by the immigration policies and represented the popular opinion of the international community on this issue.
Even some of its long-time allies couldn’t agree with the U.S. on such inhumane policy, such as Britain.
Separating children from their parents is cruel and distressing, and may cause lasting emotional damage to them, said Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England.
The U.S., which has always chanted human rights slogans and criticized other countries for violating human rights, has turned a deaf ear to the human rights tragedies it caused and the strong criticism from the international community.
As of March this year, the UN special rapporteurs on human rights had filed as many as 22 documents of formal inquiries into the various human rights issues in the U.S., according to the reports by the Guardian and other media. The U.S., however, has made no response.
Besides, the UN experts on human rights have made repeated requests to visit the U.S.-Mexico border after the inhumane treatment of immigrants there attracted worldwide attention, but such requests haven’t been granted by the U.S., according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
It is nothing new for the U.S. to resist international scrutiny in the field of human rights.
The U.S. government has failed to submit its reports to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination or the UN Committee Against Torture in recent years.
In 2018, the U.S. announced that it would withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, which astounded the world.
Moreover, some U.S. senior officials such as the Secretary of State and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs have openly threatened the International Criminal Court by claiming that the U.S. would impose sanctions against the judges and prosecutors of the institution if it initiated an investigation into the war crimes the U.S. committed in Afghanistan.
Ironically, the U.S., rather than being ashamed of its poor human rights record, tries to force its ideas concerning human rights on other countries.
Dissatisfied with the existing global human rights governance mechanisms, the U.S. Department of State announced the establishment of a Commission on Unalienable Right earlier in July, trying to redefine human rights with American tradition.
Some commented that such practice aims to promote the human rights theories of the U.S., especially the conservatives in the U.S., to the world.
When the existing global human rights governance mechanisms collide with those of the U.S., the country will not hesitate to tear down the existing rules and arbitrarily monopolize the international say in the realm of human rights.
The international human rights cause is not a private property of the U.S., and the country, tarnished by frequent scandals related to human rights, has no right to stand on the high ground and interfere in the internal affairs of other countries under the guise of human rights.
Both the human rights crisis of immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border and the obstruction of international inspection have suggested that the U.S. is moving backward on human rights. The country has become a major obstacle to the development of international human rights cause.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
人权悲剧 文明倒车
钟声
本届美国政府成立以来，移民问题被迅速政治化，数以万计的儿童移民被强行关押，“骨肉分离”政策酿出大量惨剧。面对各方谴责，美国非但不从根本上改变自身相关政策，反而一再抵制联合国等国际机构的监督调查，在人权问题上的虚伪与霸道昭然若揭。
今年7月，联合国人权高专巴切莱特发表声明，对美国非法移民关押设施的状况深表“震惊”。她特别批评美国关押儿童移民的做法可能构成国际法所禁止的“残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇”。此前，依照联合国人权理事会有关决议，联合国人权与国际团结问题独立专家提交报告指出，美国政府奉行民粹主义，使用带有种族主义和仇外色彩的措辞污蔑和诋毁移民，并将儿童与其寻求庇护的父母强行分开，严重危及移民的生命权、尊严和自由权等多项人权。
联合国机构做出的上述判断，道出了当前美国移民政策导致人权危机的实质，反映了国际社会对这一问题的基本看法。即使是美国的长期盟友，对其做法也难以苟同。英国儿童事务专员安妮•朗菲尔德指出，把孩子和父母分开“既残忍又痛苦，会造成长期的情感伤害”。
然而，在世界舞台将“人权”口号喊得震天响、动辄以陈词滥调指责其他国家侵犯人权的美国，却对本国自己制造的人权悲剧和国际社会的谴责置若罔闻。英国《卫报》等多家媒体的报道指出，截至今年3月，围绕美国国内出现的各方面人权问题，联合国各领域人权问题特别报告员提出的相关正式质询文件多达22项。对此，美国概不回复。美国公民自由联盟对联合国人权理事会表明，在美墨边境移民人道主义待遇迅速恶化的背景下，联合国相关人权问题专家多次要求访问该地区，但都得不到美方回应。
在人权领域，美国抵制国际监督早已不是什么新闻。近年来，美国政府也未向联合国消除种族歧视委员会、联合国禁止酷刑委员会按期提交报告。2018年，美国政府高调宣布退出联合国人权理事会，令世界愕然。更有甚者，美国国务卿、总统国家安全事务助理等高官公然对国际机构发出威胁，声称如果国际刑事法院启动对美国在阿富汗所涉战争罪调查，美国将对该法院的法官和检察官实施制裁。
滑稽的是，美国自身人权纪录劣迹斑斑，不仅不以为耻，还试图将本国人权话语强加于人。今年早些时候，美国国务院高调宣布成立所谓“天赋人权委员会”，声称此举是出于对现有全球人权治理机制的不满，旨在从“美国传统”出发重新定义人权。有评论指出，这是要将美国、特别是美国右翼保守派的人权理论推向全球。当现有全球人权治理机制与美国发生碰撞，美国不惜推倒既有规则，试图蛮横地垄断国际人权话语解释权。
国际人权事业不是美国的“私产”，丑闻频发的美国更没有资格站上人权高地，以人权为幌子，对他国内政说三道四。无论是美墨边境出现的移民人权危机，还是阻挠国际监督，都暴露出美国在人权问题上在开文明的倒车。美国已成为国际人权事业发展的一大障碍。
