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What a *pleasant* surprise... :-) Steve Wagner wrote: > China Issues "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2001" > http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-03/11/content_310843.htm > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > Xinhuanet 2002-03-11 14:22:36 > > > BEIJING, March 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Following is the full text of the > "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2001," published by > the Information Office of the State Council of the People's > Republic of China Monday: > > Human Rights Record of the United States in 2001 > > By Information Office of the State Council of the People's > Republic of China > > I. Lack of Safeguard for Life, Freedom and Personal Safety > II. Serious Rights Violations by Law Enforcement Departments > III. Plight of the Poor, Hungry and Homeless > IV. Worrying Conditions for Women and Children > V. Deep-Rooted Racial Discrimination > VI. Wantonly Infringing upon Human Rights of Other Countries > > On March 4, 2002, the U.S. State Department published "Country > Reports on Human Rights Practices -- 2001." Once again the United > States, assuming the role of "world judge of human rights," has > distorted human rights conditions in many countries and regions in > the world, including China, and accused them of human rights > violations, all the while turning a blind eye to its own human > rights-related problems. In fact, it is right in the United States > where serious human rights violations exist. > > I. Lack of Safeguard for Life, Freedom and Personal Safety > > Violence and crimes are a daily occurrence in the U.S. society, > where people's life, freedom and personal safety are under serious > threat. According to the 2001 fourth issue of Dialogue published > by the U.S. Embassy in China, in 1998, the number of criminal > cases in the United States reached 12.476 million, including 1.531 > million violent crime cases and 17,000 murder cases; and for every > 100,000 people, there were 4,616 criminal cases, including 566 > involving violent crimes. From 1977 to 1996, more than 400,000 > Americans were murdered, almost seven times the number of > Americans killed in the Vietnam War. During the years since 1997, > another 480,000 people have been murdered in the country. > According to a report carried by the Christian Science Monitor in > its January 22, 2002 issue, the murder rate in the United States > at present stands at 5.5 persons per 100,000 people. According to > data provided by police stations in 18 major U.S. cities, the > number of murder cases in many big cities in 2001 increased > drastically, with those in Boston and Phoenix City increasing the > fastest. In the year to December 18, 2001, the number of murder > cases in the two cities increased by more than 60 percent over the > same period of the previous year. The number of murder cases > increased by 22 percent in St. Louis, 17.5 percent in Houston, 15 > percent in St. Antonio, 11.6 percent in Atlanta, 9.2 percent in > Los Angeles and 5.2 percent in Chicago. According to the same > report of the Christian Science Monitor, on campuses of colleges > and universities in the United States in 2001, the number of > murder cases increased by almost 100 percent over 2000, that of > arson cases by about 9 percent, that of break-ins by 3 percent. > The United States is the country with the biggest number of > private guns. On the one hand, worries about the threat of > violence have led to rush buying of guns for self-protection; on > the other hand, the flooding of guns is an important factor > contributing to high violence and crime rates. Statistics of the > FBI show that sales of weapons and ammunition in the United States > in the three months of September through November of 2001 grew > anywhere from 9 percent to 22 percent. October witnessed a record > 1,029,691 guns registered. Statistics also show that shooting is > the second major cause of non-normal deaths after traffic > accidents in the United States, averaging 15,000 deaths annually. > Over the history of more than 200 years, three U.S. presidents > were shot, with two dead and one wounded seriously. There is much > less personal safety for common people in the United States. Since > 1972, more than 80 people have been shot dead every day on average > in the United States, including about 12 children. > On March 5, 2001, a 15-year-old student killed two and wounded > 13 fellow students at Santana High School in California. This is > the deadliest school shooting following one in a high school in > the state of Colorado in April 1999, in which 13 were killed. Two > days later, that is, on March 7, a 14-year-old girl student shot > dead a schoolmate of hers in the cafeteria of a Roman Catholic > school in Pennsylvania. On the same day, police overpowered a > gunman who was about to shoot on the campus of the University of > Albertus. On April 14, a 43-year-old man with two rifles and two > short guns fired madly at a bar and its car park, killing two and > wounding 20. On September 7, a gunman burst into a family on the > outskirts of Simi Valley of Los Angeles and shot three people dead > and wounded two. Earlier on August 31, a demobilized policeman > shot dead another and set fire on himself. FBI called Los Angeles > "the freest city for crimes." On December 7, a worker at a > woodworking factory shot one fellow worker dead and wounded six > others in Indiana. > On January 15, 2002, a teenage student fired at fellow students > at Martin Luther King High School, seriously wounding two. This > coincided with the 73rd anniversary of Martin Luther King, leader > of the human rights movement in the United States and an advocator > of non-violence. More ironically, on March 4, 2002, the very day > when the U.S. State Department published its annual report, > accusing other countries of "human rights violations," another > shooting took place: in New Mexico, a four-year-old boy, while > watching TV in his bedroom, shot dead an 18-month-old baby girl > with his father's gun. > The U.S. media are inundated with violent contents, > contributing to a high crime rate in the United States, especially > among young people. Young people in the country get used to > violence and crimes from an early age. With the extensive use of > cable TV, video tapes and computers, children have more > opportunities to see bloody violent scenes. A culture beautifying > violence has made young people believe that the gun can "solve" > all problems. An investigative report issued on August 1, 2001 by > a U.S. non-governmental watchdog group -- Parents Television > Council (PTC) -- says that violence in television programs from 8 > to 9 p.m. in the recent one-year period was up by 78 percent and > abusive language up by 71 percent. Even CBS, regarded as the " > cleanest" TV network, had 3.2 scenes of violence and abusive > language per hour. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, TV > stations and movie houses in the United States exercised some > restraint on the broadcasting and screening of programs and films > of violence. But it was hardly two months before violence films, > which have top box-office value, staged a comeback. International > Herald Tribune reported that one American youth could see 40,000 > murder cases and 200,000 other violent acts from the media before > the age of 18. A survey by California-based Ethical Code Institute > shows that over the past year, most American youth had the > experience of using violence, including 21 percent of the boys in > high schools and 15 percent of the boys in junior middle schools > who had the experience of taking arms to school for at least once. > The U.S. National Association of Education estimates that about > 100,000 students in the United States take arms to school every > day. > In recent years, voices for controlling guns and eliminating > the culture of violence have been running high. On Mother's Day on > May 14, 2000, women from nearly 70 cities in the United States > staged a "Million Moms Mother's Day March," demanding that the U.S. > Congress enact a strict gun control law. However, voices of the > common people can hardly produce any results. > > > II. Serious Rights Violations by Law Enforcement Departments > > Police brutality and unfair adjudication are intrinsic stubborn > diseases of the United States. In March 2001, the family of a > French victim brought a lawsuit against the police and prison > guards of the state of Nevada. Nine prison guards were accused of > beating the victim, Phillippe Leman, to death. Forensic > examinations identified the cause of death as suffocation due to > fracture of the throat bone. Yet, a local court pardoned the nine > prison guards and acquitted them of responsibilities for the death > of the French man. > Torture and forced confession are common in the United States, > with the number of convicts on the death row that are misjudged or > wronged remaining high. In December 2001, a man on the death row, > Alon Patterson, claimed that his confession was forced due to > torture by Chicago police, who used a plastic typewriter cover to > suffocate him. The case aroused extensive attention. As Chicago is > under the jurisdiction of Cook County, Chicago Herald Tribune sent > reporters to investigate the archives of several thousand murder > cases in Cook since 1991. They found that verdicts were determined > in at least 247 cases without witness or evidence and that > judgment was based on confessions of the accused only. The > credibility of such "confessions" is subject to doubt. > U.S. federal laws and 38 states allow the death penalty. Since > the 1990s, crimes punishable by death and the annual number of > executions in the United States have been on the increase. Annual > executions increased from 23 in 1990 to 98 in 1999. In the last 20 > years, the United States has extended the death penalty to more > than 60 crimes and speeded up executions by restricting the right > of the convicted to appeal. Since 1976 when the U.S. Supreme Court > restored the death penalty, about 600 persons have been executed > in the United States. According to a February 11, 2002 Reuters > report, from 1973 to 1995, the verdicts of 68 percent of convicts > on the death row were overturned owing to misjudgment by the court. > In the cases with overturned verdicts, 82 percent of the convicts > were sentenced to lesser penalties and 9 percent were set free. > Since 1973, a total of 99 convicts on the death row have been > proven innocent. These people spent an average of eight years of > terror in death confines, sustaining tremendous mental trauma. > According to an analysis, main reasons for misjudgment were > failure to get legal counsel on the part of the accused, > confession forcing by the police and prosecutors, and misdirection > of the jury by judges. > The United States has the biggest prison population in the > world. Prisons there are overcrowded, and inmates ill-treated. A > study by the Judicial Policy Institute under the Juvenile and > Criminal Hearing Center shows that during the 1992-2000 period, > 673,000 people were sent to state or federal prisons and detention > centers, and 476 out of every 100,000 people were detained. With > prisons burdened with too many inmates, violent conflicts keep > occurring. In December 2001, about 300 inmates in a California > prison staged a riot, which was put down by prison guards, using > tear gas and wooden bullets. Seven prisoners were seriously > wounded. The prison in question incarcerated more than 4,000 > inmates though it was designed to keep no more than 2,200. > Overcrowding often leads to violent clashes among prisoners. In > 2000 alone, more than 120 prisoners staged riots, in which ten > people were wounded. Drug taking is prevalent in U.S. prisons. In > the last ten years, at least 188 inmates died of drug abuse. > Punishment for sex offenders in the United States has become > more and more severe. Many phased-out cruel punishments have been > reinstated. Some criminals would select the extreme penalty of > castration in exchange for a penalty reduction. Castration had > been removed as a penalty scores of years before. According to the > Los Angeles Times, in California in the last three years, two sex > offenders received castration in return for release. > In February 2002, the world was shocked to learn of a scandal > involving a crematorium in the United States. Tri-State Crematory > in the state of Georgia, instead of cremating human bodies after > receiving money for the service, threw the corpses in the woods or > stacked them in wooden sheds like cordwood, leaving them to rot > there. The shocking practice is said to have lasted 15 years. More > than 300 bodies have been found on the grounds of the crematorium > so far. The crime is shocking enough, but the state of Georgia > does not have a law that is applicable for the crime. What verdict > to pass on the suspect remains a legal difficulty. > > > III. Plight of the Poor, Hungry and Homeless > > While the best-developed country in the world, the United > States confronts a serious problem of polarization between the > rich and the poor. Never has a fundamental change been possible in > conditions of the poor, who constitute the forgotten "third world" > within this superpower. > The gap between high-income and low-income families in terms of > the wealth owned by either group has further widened over the past > two decades. In 1979, the average income of the families with the > highest incomes, who account for 5 percent of the total in the > United States, was about ten times as great as that of the > families with the lowest incomes, who account for 20 percent of > the total. By 1999, the figure had grown to 19 times. According to > a New York Times analysis of a U.S. Census Bureau survey in August > 2001, the economic boom the United States experienced in the 1990s > failed to make the American middle class richer than in the > previous decade. The true fact is that the poor became even poorer > and the rich, even wealthier. For most of those in between the two > opposite groups, life was worse at the end of the 1990s than at > the beginning of the decade. Right now, the richest 1 percent of > the Americans own 40 percent of the national wealth. In contrast, > the share is a mere 16 percent for 80 percent of the American > population. The richest 20 percent of the families in Washington D. > C. are 24 times as rich as the poorest 20 percent, up from 18 > times a decade ago. > Problems facing the poor, hungry and homeless have become > increasingly conspicuous. According to a 2002 report of the > American Food Research and Action Center on its website, 10 > percent of the American families, in other words 19 million adults > and 12 million children, suffered from food insecurity in 1999. In > a national survey of emergency feeding program (Hunger in America > 2001), America's Second Harvest emergency food providers served 23 > million people in the year, 9 percent more than in 1997. The > figure included nine million children. Nearly two-thirds of the > adult emergency food recipients were women, and more than one in > five were elderly. > In its annual report published in December 2001, the United > States Conference of Mayors reported a sharp increase in the > number of the hungry and homeless in major cities. In the 27 > cities covered by a USCM survey, the number of people asking for > emergency food increased by an average of 23 percent, and the > increase averaged 13 percent for those asking for emergency > housing relief. Demand for emergency food supplies grew in 93 > percent of the cities covered by the survey. Of those who asked > for emergency food, many -- 19 percent more than in the previous > year -- had children to support. Of the adults who asked for > emergency relief, 37 percent were employed. Hunger in these cities > was attributed to low incomes, unemployment, high housing rent, > economic recession, welfare reforms, high medical bills and mental > disorders. According to a report issued by the U.S. Department of > Labor on November 29, 2001, 4.02 million Americans -- the highest > number in 19 years -- were living on relief. The National Alliance > to End Homelessness has reported that 750,000 Americans are in a > permanent state of homelessness, and that up to two million have > had experiences of having no shelter for themselves. People > without a roof over themselves have to spend the night in places > like street corners, abandoned cars, refuges and parks, where > their personal safety cannot be guaranteed. > Lives of the rich seem more valued than lives of the poor. > According to la Liberation on January 9, 2002, the federal fund > set up by the American government would compensate victims of the > September 11, 2001 attacks according to their ages, salaries and > the number of people in their families, plus a sum in compensation > for the mental trauma the family members suffered. This way of > fixing the compensations produced shocking results. If a housewife > was killed, her husband and two children would be entitled to 500, > 000 U.S. dollars in compensation from the fund. If the victim > happened to be a Wall Street broker, the compensation would be as > much as 4.3 million U.S. dollars for his widow and two children. > Families of many victims protested against this inequality, > compelling the American government to commit itself to revising > the method. > > > IV. Worrying Conditions for Women and Children > > Gender discrimination is an important aspect of social > inequality in the United States. Until this day, there has been no > constitutional provision on equality between men and women. On > September 18, 2000, with support of some NGOs, a dozen surviving " > comfort women" brought a class action with a federal court in > Washington D.C., demanding public apology and compensation from > the Japanese government. The U.S. government, however, issued a > statement of interest in July 2001, calling for dismissal of the > lawsuit on the ground that recruiting of "comfort women" by the > Japanese army during the Second World War was a "sovereign act." > The statement aroused protects from the U.S. National Organization > for Women, the Truth Council for World War II in Asia and other > NGOs. This incident, in its own way, reflects current conditions > in protection of women's human rights in the United States and > America's official attitude towards women's rights demand. > Violence against women is a serious social problem in the > United States. According to U.S. official statistics, one American > woman is beaten in every 15 seconds on average and some 700,000 > cases of rape occur every year. According to the 121st edition of > the American Census published on January 24, 2002, in 1998 about > one million people were suspected of involvement in violence > between spouses and between men and women as friends. In March > 2001, Amnesty International USA issued a report after two years' > investigation, saying that the human rights of female prison > inmates in the United States are often fringed upon and that they > often fall victim to sexual harassment or rape by prison guards. > Seven states even do not have laws or legal provisions banning > sexual relations between prison officials and female inmates. > Protection of American children's rights is far from being > adequate. The United States is one of the only two countries that > have not acceded to Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is > one of the only five countries that execute juvenile offenders in > violation of relevant international conventions. More juvenile > offenders are executed in the United States than in any of the > other four. In 25 states, the youngest age eligible for death > sentence is set at 17; and 21 states set that age at 16 or do not > impose an age limit at all. Besides, the United States is among > the few countries where psychiatric and mentally retarded > offenders could be executed. According to the Human Rights Watch, > in the 1990s, nine juveniles were sentenced to death in the United > States, and the number was greater than that reported by any of > the other countries. > American children are susceptible to violence and poverty. > According to a report published on November 28, 2001 by the U.S. > Violent Policy Center, analysis of the murder data released by FBI > shows that from 1995 to 1999, 3,971 infants and juveniles aged one > to 17 years were murdered in handgun homicides. The firearm > homicide rate for American children was 16 times the figure for > children in 25 other industrialized countries. Black children have > the highest rate of handgun homicide victimization, seven times > higher than that for white children. In April 2000, the U.S. Fund > for the Protection of the Child published a green paper on > conditions of American children. It quotes the poverty statistics > of the American government for 1999 as saying that more than 12 > million children were living below the poverty line set by the > federal government, accounting for one-sixth of the total number > of children in the country. A report by the U.S. Health and Public > Service Department released at the beginning of 2001 says that 10 > percent of the American children have mental health problems and > that one out of every ten children and children in adolescence > suffered from mental illnesses that are serious enough to hurt. > Nevertheless, those able to receive treatment could not exceed one- > fifth. > The problem of missing children is serious. Figures published > by FBI in 2001 showed that in 1999, 750,000 children went missing, > accounting for 90 percent of the total number of people who went > missing in the year. To put it another way, an average of 2,100 > children at 17 or younger went missing every day. Since the > Missing Children Act was enacted in 1982, the number of children > registered by police as missing has increased by 468 percent. > American children often fall prey to sexual abuse. According to > a report published in September 2001 by a group of researchers at > the University of Pennsylvania after three years' investigation, > about 400,000 American children are streetwalkers or engage in > various obscene activities for money near their schools. Children > who have fled their homes or are homeless suffer most severely > from sexual abuse. Sexual harassment against children by clergymen > in the United States is serious. According to Newsweek published > on February 26, 2002, the Boston archdiocese of the U.S. Roman > Catholic Church has over the past decade paid 1 billion U.S. > dollars in compensation in lawsuits of sexual harassment by its > clergymen against children. About 80 Boston clergymen are > suspected of having molested children sexually. One has been > accused of sexually molested more than 100 children. This, the > greatest scandal in the United States following the Enron case, > has aroused nationwide attention to the problem that is also > common among clergymen elsewhere and, as a result, a string of > similar cases have been brought to light. > > > V. Deep-Rooted Racial Discrimination > > Racial discrimination is the most serious human rights problem > in the United States, a problem that the United States has never > resolved since its founding. The United States, as a matter of > fact, was notorious for genocide against aboriginal Indians, trade > of African blacks and black slavery. In recent years, scandals of > racial discrimination have occurred, one after another. > On April 7, 2001, a white police officer shot to death an > unarmed black youth in Cincinnati, Ohio, as he was trying to run > away after breaking traffic rules. Black people in the city staged > mass protests following the death of Timothy Thomas, which > culminated in a racial conflict. The incident once again aroused > worldwide attention to the problem of racial discrimination in the > United States. According to the Observer of Britain published on > April 15, 2001, Cincinnati is one of the eight large cities in the > United States where the problem of racial discrimination is most > serious. Even though the world is already in the 21st century, > racial segregation is still practiced by virtually all schools in > the city. Timothy Thomas was the fourth black person killed by > white police in succession from November 2000 to April 2001, and > the 15th black suspect killed by white police in the same city > since 1995. It is beyond people's comprehension that during the > same period, killing of white suspects by the police never > occurred. According to the Associated Press, the mass protests in > Cincinnati matched those that broke out after the killing of > Martin Luther King. > Racial discrimination is discernible everywhere in the United > States. The proportion of federal government posts taken by ethnic > minority Americans is much smaller than the proportion of their > population in the national total. According to an article in the > July-August issue of the bimonthly World Economic Review, of the > 535 senators and Congress men and women, those of Latin-American > origin with voting rights number only 19, or 3.5 percent of the > total, even though ethnic Latin-Americans account for 12.5 percent > of the country's total population. Blacks account for 13 percent > of the American population, but are able to win only 5 percent of > the public posts through election. There are legal provisions to > the effect that colored people must account for a certain > percentage in the police force. The true fact, however, is that > few black people are able to join the police force and even fewer > serve as senior police officers. Take for example Cincinnati. > Black people account for 43 percent of the local population but, > of the 1,000 members of the local police force, only 250 are > blacks. None of the CEOs and presidents of the top 500 companies > in the Unites States are blacks. Blacks holding senior posts at > Wall Street investment companies are rare, if any. > Social conditions are bad for ethnic minority Americans. > According to the 2000 population census, blacks unable to enjoy > medical insurance are twice as many as whites. Only 17 percent of > the black population are able to finish higher education, in > contrast to 28 percent for whites. The unemployment rate was twice > as high for blacks as for whites. Meanwhile, blacks employed for > menial service jobs are more than twice as many. Incomes for the > average white family averaged 44,366 U.S. dollars in 1999. For an > average black family, however, the figure was 25,000 U.S. dollars. > According to statistics provided by the U.S. Equal Employment > Opportunity Committee, the number of employed ethnic minority > Americans has increased by 36 percent since 1990, but the number > of charges against racial or ethnical harassment at work-sites has > doubled, averaging 9,000 a year. Of the five largest dumps of > harmful wastes, three are in residential areas inhabited mainly by > blacks and other ethnic minority Americans. Up to 60 percent of > the blacks and ethnic Latin-Americans are living in places where > harmful wastes are dumped. > Racial discrimination is frequently seen in America's > judicature. Half of the 2 million prison inmates are blacks, and > ethnic Latin-Americans account for 16 percent of the total. > According to an investigative report published by the United > Nations, for the same crime the penalty meted out against the > colored can be twice or even thrice as severe as against the white. > Blacks sentenced to death for killing whites are four times as > many as whites given death penalty for killing blacks. The U.S. > Department of Justice reported on March 12, 2001 that threats by > the police with force against blacks and ethnic Latin-Americans > are twice as possible as against whites. > > > VI. Wantonly Infringing upon Human Rights of Other Countries > > The United States ranks first in the world in terms of military > spending and arms export. Its military expenditure accounts for > nearly 40 percent of the world total, more than the combined > military expenditure of the nine countries ranking next to it. Its > arms exports account for 36 percent of the world total. U.S. > defense budget for the 2003 fiscal year announced by the U.S. > Defense Department on February 4, 2002 totaled 379 billion U.S. > dollars, up 48 billion U.S. dollars, or 15 percent, over the > previous year and representing the highest growth rate in the past > two decades. > The United States ranks first in the world in wantonly > infringing upon the sovereignty of, and human rights in, other > countries. Since the 1990s, the United States has used force > overseas on more than 40 occasions. On April 1, 2001, a U.S. > military reconnaissance plane flew above waters off China's coast > in violation of flight rules, causing the crash of a Chinese > aircraft and the death of its pilot. It presumptuously entered > China's territorial airspace without permission from the Chinese > side and landed on a Chinese military airfield, seriously > encroaching upon China's sovereignty and human rights. After the > incident, the United States made all sorts of excuses to defend > itself, refusing to make a public apology for the serious > consequences of its intruding aircraft and trying to shirk its > responsibilities. This aroused great indignation and strong > protests from the Chinese people. > The United States has built many military bases all over the > world, where it has stationed hundreds of thousands of troops, > violating human rights everywhere in the world. Before the > September 11 incident, the United States had stationed its troops > in more than 140 countries. Today, the United States has expanded > its so-called security interests to almost every corner of the > world. In recent years, U.S. troops stationed in Japan have > frequently committed crimes. In 1995, three American soldiers > raped a Japanese schoolgirl in Okinawa, sparking massive protests > by the Japanese people and arousing the alert of world public > opinion. In fact, scandals like this happen almost every year. On > January 11, 2001, an American soldier was arrested for molesting a > local schoolgirl in Okinawa. On January 19, the Okinawa parliament > adopted a resolution of protest against frequent criminal > activities by American soldiers, calling for reduction of U.S. > troops in Japan. However, in an e-mail message to his subordinates, > the U.S. commander in Okinawa insulted the Okinawa magistrate and > parliament. On June 29, another soldier of the U.S. air force > sexually assaulted a Japanese girl in Kyatan of Okinawa. > The NATO headed by the United States dropped a large number of > depleted uranium bombs during the Kosovo war, subjecting peace- > keeping soldiers as well as the local people to serious danger. > The U.S. side claimed that one of the reasons for the withdrawal > of U.S. troops from Kosovo is that "it would not let radiation > hurt our boys." Latest reports say that the United States knew the > dangers of depleted uranium bombs and where they were dropped, and > that, when dividing up peacekeeping zones, it allocated the most > seriously contaminated areas to allied forces. After the U.S. army > entered Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, it gave a boost to the sex > industry in the two places. Over the past year, Bosnia-Herzegovina > uncovered dozens of women trafficking cases, many of which were > associated with the U.S. army. Most of the U.S. soldiers were > involved in prostitution and some of them were even involved in > selling women. In September 2000, the U.S. Army published a report > of more than 600 pages, detailing all kinds of bad behaviors > committed by the No.82 air-borne division of its First Army during > their peace-keeping mission in Kosovo, admitting that the general > atmosphere of the U.S. army in Kosovo is very inhumane. > Available data indicate that in the Gulf War the United States > dropped more than 940,000 depleted uranium bombs with a total > weight of 320 tons onto Iraqi land, causing serious destruction to > the environment of Iraq and the health of its people. The Ministry > of Health of Iraq pointed out in a report that the number of > cancer patients in Iraq increased dramatically after the Gulf War, > from 6,555 in 1989 and 4,341 in 1991 to 10,931 in 1997. In the ten > years since the end of the Gulf War, the incidence rate of > leukemia, malicious tumors and other difficult and complicated > cases in areas hit by depleted uranium bombs in southern Iraq was > 3.6 times higher than the national average and the proportion of > women with miscarriage was ten times as high as in the past. On > February 22, 2002, Emad Sa'doon, a medical expert with Basra > University in southern Iraq, disclosed to the media that after > many years of research the medical group led by him found that in > the 1989-1999 period, the number of patients with blood cancer > doubled and the number of women with breast cancer increased 102 > percent. > The United States always flaunts the banner of "freedom of the > press". Yet according to an Agence France-Presse report on > February 21, 2002, the annual report of International Journalism > Institute published on the same day pointed out that the way in > which the U.S. government dealt with the media during the Afghan > War and its attempt at suppressing freedom of speech by > independent media were "the most amazing in 2001." > In the United States, close to 100 companies manufacture and > export considerable quantities of instruments of torture that are > banned in international trade. They have set up sales networks > overseas. In its February 26, 2001 report, Amnesty International > said some 80 American companies were involved in the manufacture, > marketing and export of instruments of torture, including electric- > shock tools, shackles and handcuffs with saw-teeth. Many > instruments of torture and police tools are high-tech products, > which can cause serious harms to the human body. For instance, > handcuffs,which would tear apart the flesh of the tortured if the > victim slightly exerts himself, are very cruel, and so is a high- > pressure rope for tying up a person. Although categorically > prohibited by U.S. law, the Commerce Department of the United > States has given official export licenses for exporting such tools. > According to statistics, American companies have secured export > licenses and sold tools of torture overseas valued at 97 million U. > S. dollars since 1997 under the category of "crime control > equipment." It is inconceivable that, while the U.S. State > Department is talking about human rights, the U.S. Department of > Commerce has given export licenses for products determined as > instruments of torture in statutes of the U.S. government, said Dr. > William Schulz, who conducted the investigation. > The United States has also conducted irradiation experiments > with the dead bodies of babies from overseas. The Daily Telegraph > and the Observer of the United Kingdom disclosed in June of 2001 > that the United States has recently declassified some top-secret > documents, which indicate that in the 1950s the United States > carried out what was called "Project Sunshine" experiments. For > these experiments, about 6,000 dead babies were obtained from > overseas and cremated without permission of their parents. The > ashes were sent to laboratories for irradiation studies. > The U.S. government has until this day refused to sign the > Basel Convention, which restricts the transfer of waste materials. > It often transfers dangerous waste materials by different methods > to developing countries, damaging the health of the people of > other countries. The Associated Press reported on February 25, > 2002 that, according to an estimate by environmental protection > organizations, as much as 50 percent to 80 percent of the > electronic wastes collected by the United States in the name of > recycling have been shipped to a number of countries in Asia for > waste treatment, causing serious environmental and health problems > to the local people. > The United States has announced its withdrawal from the Kyoto > Protocol, refusing to bear the responsibilities of improving the > environment for human survival and bringing about negative impacts > on environmental protection efforts in the world. > The Third UN Conference Against Racism held in Durban of South > African in September 2001 was an important gathering in the area > of international human rights at the beginning of the new century. > It attracted representatives from more than 190 countries, which > reflected the burning desire of the international community to > eliminate hatred accumulated over time and eradicate the remnants > of racism through dialogue and cooperation. The United States, > however, turned a deaf ear to the voices of the international > community. Ignoring its international obligations, it asserted > openly to boycott the conference before it was opened. Although > the United States sent a low-level delegation to the conference as > a result of prompting and persuasion by the United Nations, it > took the lead in opposing discussing slave trade and colonial > compensation, expressed opposition to putting Zionism on a par > with racism, and walked out of the conference midway. Behaviors of > the United States at the conference revealed its hypocrisy when it > professes itself as "a world judge of human rights" and show how > arrogant and isolated the hegemonic acts of the U.S. government > are. > For many years, the U.S. government has year after year > published reports on human rights conditions in other countries in > disregard of the opposition of many countries in the world, > cooking up charges, twisting facts and censoring all countries > except itself. It also publishes a report every year to make a so- > called appraisal of anti-drug trafficking campaigns of 24 > countries including all Latin American countries. The United > States deals with any country it deems "inefficient in cracking > down on drug trafficking" with condemnation, sanctions, > interference in the latter's internal affairs, or outright > invasion. > In 2001, without support from the majority of member countries, > the United States was voted out of the United Nations Human Rights > Commission and the International Narcotics Committee. This shows, > from one aspect, that it is extremely unpopular for the United > States to push double standards and unilateralism on such issues > as human rights, crackdowns on drug trafficking, arms control and > environmental protection. We urge the United States to change its > ways, give up its hegemonic practice of creating confrontation and > interfering in the internal affairs of others by exploiting the > human rights issue, go with the tide of the times characterized by > cooperation and dialogue in the area of human rights, and do more > useful things for the progress and development of the human > society. Enditem > ___________________________________ > Copyright © 2000 Xinhua News Agency. > All rights reserved. > http://news.xinhuanet.com/english > > > > > ===== > Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. Weekly peace walks around > Lake Merritt in Oakland. Starts & ends at the colonnade between Grand & > Lakeshore Avenues, 3 P.M., every Sunday. Info: (510)763-8712, > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Try FREE Yahoo! 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