Washington's human rights policies have recently come under fire by the UN. On Tuesday, the UN requested that the United States abolish the death penalty and give them a detailed list of ways they could improve their human rights policies.
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recommendation came from 228 other countries who disagree with the death penalty. I think it would be very interesting if the United States did a survey of how many people within the US agree or disagree with the death penalty.
Unfortunately, this is often the case: states rejecting the recommendations and resolutions created by the UN and other member states regarding domestic human rights practices. The gaping hole in the human rights implementation mechanism is that state sovereignty trumps all, no matter how much the international community disapproves. The US will continue to reject calls to abolish its use of the death penalty so long as government legitimacy remains intact, locally and globally.
ReplyDeleteA frustrating example in Vietnam is that the the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) has repeatedly ignored requests by the UN to deliver reports on its implementation of civil and political rights, and in a Periodic Review last May, the VCP rejected every single one of the 40 recommendations put forth by member states to improve human rights protection in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the VCP uses aid funds from the West (we're talking billions of dollars) to "restructure and strengthen" legal mechanisms to protect human rights; in practice, the VCP has created literally thousands of new laws that they then use to justify arbitrary arrests, long prison terms and severe media censorship. All of it is permissible, because it's "legal." This and many other loopholes in the human rights system cause undue suffering to so many people, and wealthy nations trying to "make a difference" often contribute to the injustice.