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Geneva report highly critical of U.S. commitment to human rights

The Geneva hearings are over and the final report has been released. It is not pretty, insofar as the U.S. and human rights are concerned.

Every four years, nations representing the Conventions against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights meet to review meet to review compliance of ICCPR nations. An official report is issued, along with a "shadow report," what The Raw Story refers to as "a rebuttal from non-government organizations (NGO), advocacy groups, and citizen representatives. The US “shadow report” was prepared by The Coalition for Human Rights at Home, a coalition of 142 not-for-profit groups."

This year's 456-page shadow report describes over a hundred instances of human rights violations, in a response to the official report issued by the United States. Also, the U.S. was a mere seven years late in developing its report, which it is obligated to prepare as an ICCPR signatory nation.

The Raw Story goes on to describe correspondence between the Committee and the U.S. as a "cat and mouse game," in which the Committee addresses questions to the U.S., and the U.S. responds by saying it has already answered those questions. When the Committee then says "please clarify when you answered that and what the answer was," it receives no further communication.

Jamil Dakwar, a staff attorney with the Human Rights Program, National Legal Department of the ACLU, calls the interplay a "dialogue of deaf."

Comments

Sad. Just sad.

Posted by: The Heretik on 08/03/06 at 5:21 PM

I didn't know there was a US commitment to human rights. Apparently its an oxymoron in this administration.

Posted by: Peter less is more on 08/04/06 at 4:05 PM

It's interesting how we don't hear the government officials blasting other countries about their human rights reports anymore like we used to. Remember how we used to blast China, USSR, even Cuba?

They don't seem bad anymore.

Probably because they've assimilated us without our realizing it.

Posted by: JimmyB on 08/04/06 at 10:58 PM

The U.S. has descended down the darkest corridors of human rights abuses. Bush can now be happy because, for the sake of fighting terrorism, Washington now enjoys the company of big time offenders like North Korea, the Republic of Yugoslavia, China, Israel itself, etc. By the way, didn't Bush get it wrong when he was referring to the members of the axis of evil? It seems that if there is such a thing, surely the U.S. belongs there.

Posted by: Jaime Galarza on 08/05/06 at 6:20 AM

It seems to me that The Ideal of a Form of Government (Republic) which provides the Right of The Citizen to participate in its Interworkings is one of the most ironic circumstances The People of this Country Faces. We have the Right to Participate, but it seems that We are Barred on this end from Making any real Sunstantial Changes to the Status Quo, while on the other End, Those of the International Community cannot Guage what the True American Citizen feels or has to say because they must have Correspondence with The Sovereign who is by far one of the most "Non-Upright" Administrations since the Inception of this Nation. It seems that The People are now needing to look after their own Interests, as The US's Belligerence will to The Rest Of the World will not (to say the least) Secure The Blessings of LIBERTY to Us OR Our Posterity, but rather Secure The Complete Opposit.

What are We ever To Do?

Peace

Posted by: Alston Bey on 08/05/06 at 3:29 PM

What are you ever to do? Don't forget that Abraham Lincoln said that the people could overthrow the government if it showed to be corrupt and tyrannical. You may think that these things happen in Third World countries but the U.S. was close to that more than once; for wxample, during the Cuban missile crisis and also during the Watergate scandal when Nixon toyed with the idea.

Posted by: Jaime Galarza on 08/07/06 at 4:21 PM