United Sates Success and Failures
Peace keeping missions and protection of human rights
Introduction
The United Nations has provided a global structure that addresses the protecting of human rights and maintaining of global peace. These are based on legal binding treaties, non binding declarations, United Nations Charters and varying activities that aim at enhancing human rights and advancing democracy wild wide. International laws on human rights examine the protection of the human family from discrimination based on race, gender, nationality and citizenship, and protection from insecurity.
The US like all the other countries of the world has the responsibility of developing policies which look into the protection of human rights and implementation of peace keeping missions.
The United States and the international human rights laws.
By examining the actions of the United States in upholding human rights and in providing of peace, we can be able to derive to what extend the country is failing or succeeding in the implementation of United Nation goals. The major setbacks the United States faces are as a result of those United States the country’s policies on human rights laws at an international level. The US polices are biased along the lines of religion, race, nationality and citizenships. This undermines the universality and equality of human rights required by the international law. The United States has policies which provoke interests within states and between states leading to division. Lastly, the country has misused the concept of protection of international thereat of terrorists to cut across the existing laws and that some do not apply. The United Nations has to intervene and access how the US polices affects the international human rights law structure.
The America Civil Liberties Union ACLU is a non profit, nationwide, and a non partisan organization that aim at protecting civil liberties and humane rights in the United States. In 2004, the ACLU developed a program on Human Rights to hold the government of the United States accountable to the universal principles of human rights and accountable to the rights which are guaranteed in the constitution of the United States. The human rights program by ACLU incorporates the strategies of human rights at an international level which advocates for issues related to national security, immigrants rights, racial justice and women’s rights.
From 2002 to 2004, the United States of America agreed to the new instruments and treaties in the Human Rights fields. This is mainly exemplified in adhering to the two protocols of the Child Convention rights. However, the country resisted the commitment and developments of instruments for altering the United States Obligations and laws like the Prevention Visits of Torture Convention Protocol. In the implementation of the existing norms of human rights, the United States has been done through the issuance of reports that comply with other countries on human rights and more specialized briefings such as on the freedom of religion.
The failures
The global community has criticized the United States action of treating the enemy alliance in the programs on War against terrorism. This program according to the critics has surpassed the grounds of human rights leading of lack of advancements in the country’s foreign policy. This is in the case of the United States failure to condemn Israel in the international fora .The US actively participated with the United Nations to pursue the election of Human rights bodies which comprise US representatives. However, the US inter-American commission of Human rights has failed to uphold their main objective (Murphy, 2004, pp 192).
The United States immigration law and its intersection with the human rights law at an international level still remain to be controversial issue. The US immigrants as well as the citizens face death penalty in case of serious crime. The immigrants can as well be deported back to their developing countries which still practice inhuman treatment or torture. The Torture Victim Protection Act and the Alien Tort Claims Act are the most robust on human rights laws in the US. These polices gave the avenues through which a persons can seek to be vindicated by the US courts for violation of human rights done abroad, and also those allegations against corporations (Roberts, 2004, p 3).
On matters of security to a person, life, and property, the United States citizens have experienced 4.9 million violent crimes in the year 2008. Victimization of persons aged twelve years and above was at the rate of 19.3 in 2009 according to reports by the US department of Justice. The most dangerous zone is San Antonio in Texas with 2, 558 crime cases in 2009 (Global research, 2010). The U. S is the first country in the world in privately-owned guns ranking. There are a total of 309 million populations who have privately owned guns according the state given by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm and that of the FBI. Each year, thirty thousand people die from incidences related to gun shots.
The US government has violated and restricted political and civil right of the national.
The United States prisoners are not protected in terms of their basic human rights. Many cases of physical abuse by staff members are widely reported. They face denial of food, and rape case. The management of the prisons is chaotic and is over populated. The congestion has led to the spread of diseases and poor health.
After the September, 11 terrorism attack, anti -terrorism program was implemented the government which has authorized the information and communication email hacking on any mailthat is a thereat to public security. This has infringed the individual’s rights to privacy.
The United States still experiences cases of racial discrimination among the minorities and the black people. They are the disadvantaged group in terms of employment and lack of local resources within their locality such as schools, and hospitals. In 2008, the US Bureau of Census gave reports on the income of the minority households. The median income of an American Household according to the reports was at $ 50,303 (Aclur, 2009, pp 14). For a Hispanic Household was at $ 37, 913 and 61% income earning for a Non-Hispanic White household(Global research, 2010). This shows that hundreds of non citizens still anguish in poverty and are not given the employment opportunities compared to the White in highly paying jobs. The minority groups in education also face discrimination. The collage degree holders among the minority group are way to low than those of the white. They also face discrimination in judicial and law enforcement system. A black person is more likely to be convicted and imprisoned compared to a white who has committed the same crime(Roberts, 2004, p 34).
The rights of children and women are not respected in the United States government. Women do not enjoy equal political and social status compared to men. They suffer low income and higher unemployment rate. Majority of cases of sexual assault and violence are reported by women. The children are not protected from labor in farms. Children as young as eight toil with dangerous pesticides and use sharp farm objects. The United States and Somalia are the only countries in the world which do not apply parole system in violent crimes committed by minors (Global research, 2010).
Success
In 1995, the United States signed the Rights of the child as UN Convention .The UN General Assembly in 2005 adopted the two Child Protection protocols which are the optional protocol in child Pornography, Child Prostitution and sale of Child. The second protocol is the optional protocol involvement of children in Armed Conflict. When these protocols were presented to the senate members, they were dealt with reasonably and realistically with voluntary, compulsory and participative recruitment of a minor which is a difficult issue. The compulsory age required by the protocol is 18 years. The United States had adhered to this by not allowing the recruitment of a person below the age of 18 into the armed forces. The US does not allow voluntary recruitment of a minor into armed conflict. Offences like child prostitution, pornography and sale of children are as acts of crime. The two protocols were ratified in December 23, 2002.
The United Sates has assisted various countries of the world to uphold human rights such as the country’s involvement in peace and meditating in Haiti, Sudan and Somalia.
Conclusion
The Constitution of the United States protects Human Rights. By the start of the 20th century, the US was the leading country in implementing the agenda of United Nation. Many of the UN Universal declarations were actively implanted into the US constitution. The 21 century has seen the US attempts to undermine the International criminal Court and Rome Statute. ITS government has been criticized for violating human rights oversees and domestically on maters concerning national security and Criminal justice system.
Reference
Global research (2010) How China Views America: Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009. China’s Information Office off the Counsel. Retrieved from
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18117
On August 20, 2010
Roberts A (2004) Righting Wrongs or Wrong rights? The United States AND Human Rights Post September 1. EJIL publisher’s pp 3.
Aclur, G (2009) the perspective of racial and ethnic profiling in the United SATES. American Civil Liberties Union and The rights working group, p 56
Bloed, A Dijk, P and TMC( 1997)Essays on human rights in the Helsinki process
Publisher Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, pp 226
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