A Pot Calling the Kettle Black

The United States Congress will debate the human rights of the Scheduled Castes in India next month. Does the United States have the credentials to discuss the subject given its own record?

The United States Congressional Commission on China had released its annual report on human rights in China. The China State Council, in turn, released a report on March 3, 2005 titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2004". Sandhya Jain, in her Op-Ed in the Organizer dated October 23, 2005, extracts key points in the Chinese publication.

The United States has not ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It fares poorly on race relations. Let's leave aside the recent fiasco in New Orleans. The Chinese refer to a study of the National Urban League dated March 24, 2004 to highlight the fact that there are five African-American murder victims to every white American murder victim. The incidence of HIV/AIDS amongst African-Americans is ten times that of white Americans. The poverty rate amongst African-Americans is thrice that of the whites. The Chinese cite an article from the Washington Post dated May 17, 2004 to emphasize that many schools in the United States remain racially segregated to this day.

The Chinese document quotes FBI Crime Statistics to point out that there were 93,233 rape cases of women in the United States in 2003. One million abused women are treated at First Aid Centers in the United States every year. 1,500 American women are murdered by their husbands or lovers each year. 78% of American women are subject to physical assault at least once in their life time. The Chinese publication mentions the rape of female military personnel by male colleagues in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would add that the incidence of domestic abuse in the United States is comparable to India where one in five women are battered by their spouses.

China cites the February 27, 2004 issue of USA Today to indicate that poverty compels 400,000 children in the United States into street prostitution each year. In the decade 1994-2004, the United States spent US$ 7 billion to build new jails. America's prisons are its second largest employer after General Motors with 530,000 personnel on their payroll. The goods and services manufactured by prison inmates in the United States surged from US$ 400 million in 1980 to US$ 1.1 billion in 1994. This needs to be viewed in light of American charges of forced labor camps in China. The October 12, 2004 edition of the New York Times reports that 13% of prison inmates in the United States are raped in custody.

The United States has the largest number of gun owners in the world. The Chinese report alludes to a publication of the United States Department of Justice dated November 29, 2004 to reveal that 31,000 Americans are killed by firearms each year. This translates into 80 people shot dead every day. Police violence is a serious problem.

The July 6, 2004 edition of the Baltimore Sun revealed that the average income of the bottom 90% of the United States had not changed from 1970 to 2000. The average income of the top 10% rose by 90%. This information is adjusted for inflation. Should the United States Congress pontificate on human rights in India given the facts in America?