USA: The ‘posterboy’ for human rights
The US needs to reassess its own domestic law and order before meddling abroad
Anup Sinha
It’s common to refer to the US as a “champion of democracy and human rights.” However, the United States has encountered various domestic human rights issues over the past 20 years as it transitioned to a multicultural society.
Numerous figures demonstrate an alarming rise in gun-related violence, including extrajudicial killings, hate crimes, and other egregious human rights breaches. In today’s American society, these are regular issues. The government is also failing to develop or implement efficient policies.
Global human rights are a topic that worries the US and its Western allies. The latest human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, and political disappearances in Bangladesh have alarmed the United States. In this context, it’s crucial to keep up with news on the US House.
Crimes against Bangladeshis
In the early hours of Wednesday, criminals in the Missouri state of the United States of America (USA) shot and killed a Bangladeshi man. Armed robbery is not uncommon in the US. The event happened about 3:30 in the morning (Bangladesh time), and the automobile and money belonging to the victim are thought to have been the intended targets of the robbery. Romim Uddin Ahmed, age 22, a native of the Mirsarai upazila in the Chittagong district, was identified as the deceased.
Romim was working at the petrol station when some miscreants allegedly tried to break into his parked car, according to media reports. Romim stepped in, and the shooter fired at him. He was pronounced dead after being escorted to the hospital by the police.
Jatavian Scott, a 19-year-old suspect, is wanted by the police in relation to the incident. Romim Uddin Ahmed, however, can serve as a symbol for those who are affected by the severe legal and security situations in the US.
Arif Saeed Faisal, a young man from the Bangladeshi community who was residing overseas, was shot and killed by police earlier this year in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The sole child of the family, Faisal’s killing was thus characterized by many as a “racist act by white police officers.”
Extrajudicial killings
Extrajudicial killings are often tolerated by many in Western societies. On May 24 of last year, Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old, murdered 19 children as well as two teachers. Before the police came, Border Patrol officers shot and killed the adolescent during the altercation at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. In other words, there was another extrajudicial killing.
Soon after a shooting at an elementary school in Texas, another gunman was shot and killed by police in Toronto, Canada, close to a school. These are a few instances of extrajudicial killings that have occurred in the US and Canada. Both nations are renowned for having cutting-edge human rights laws.
The Washington Post reports that in the United States, police kill 1,000 people on average each year. In the United States — again, one of the top ten countries in the world — there were 1,944 police killings in 2022 alone. In addition, the police violence report estimates that in 2020, there will be over a million police fatalities in the United States.
In the instance of these homicides, just 16 policemen have been registered. In a report, the US think tank “Mapping Police” demonstrated that situations of unlawful use of force by state agents are subject to duties under international human rights law to look into, prosecute, and pay damages. However, from 2013 to 2020, the police were held responsible for less than 99% of all killings.
Shootings
These occurrences are common in the US. According to reports from the BBC and AFP, ten people were killed in a shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket in May of last year. Twenty children and six other people were killed when a shooter opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.
In the United States, there were 26 similar shootings last year. The primary cause of death for adolescents and teenagers will no longer be auto accidents for them in 2020, but shootings.
America’s ‘gift’ to the world
The expansion of human rights for citizens in third-world nations would undoubtedly benefit from the US’s support for democracy and human rights. But is there any real chance to examine America’s internal struggle for democracy and human rights from an objective vantage point? The United States has its own interests and a variety of methods to further itself onto the other side of the challenge it faces in defending human rights.
In its long-running conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan to combat terrorism, defend human rights, and enshrine democracy, the US has killed thousands of civilians. There are several claims of significant human rights breaches, gun violence, and racial supremacy against the US as well.
The United States has been fighting wars in numerous nations throughout the world for years under the pretext of battling terrorism. It has resulted in more civilian deaths than counterterrorism, a rise in the number of refugees, the emergence of new factions, and a protracted civil war. The US has spent an estimated $8 trillion on the “War on Terror” project, killing more than 900,000 people and displacing millions, according to a groundbreaking research from Brown University’s Cost of War Project.
Instead of ending terrorism, the immense toll it has taken on people’s lives and economies has resulted in the yearly formation of new militant groups as well as the restructuring of numerous armed groups like Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Taliban. The United States has long engaged in widespread violations of international human rights in the name of national security and the fight against terrorism.
In several nations, including Yemen and Somalia, the US continues to execute alleged terrorists, the majority of whom are killed by drone strikes. Anwar al-Awlaki, an al Qaeda propagandist and extreme religious leader, was assassinated on September 30, 2011, in Yemen by a drone strike that Obama had ordered. The man was the first American citizen to die as a result of a US drone strike. In spite of all legal procedures, the man was “extrajudicially killed” on that particular day.
In a drone assault in Kabul in September 2021, at least 10 civilians — including women and children — were killed. Drone attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia between 2010 and 2020 resulted in the deaths of at least 16,000 individuals, including more than 2,000 civilians.
‘The land of the free and just’
The United States has consistently advocated for freedom of the press and expression. But everyone is aware of Julian Assange’s tragic fate, who founded WikiLeaks in this nation. The US’s crackdown on Assange has restricted information freedom and free media there.
American society is innately racial and racially discriminatory. The nation’s black residents have endured appalling prejudice for a very long period. According to the Washington Post, black Americans are killed by police at a rate that is more than double that of white Americans. Black Americans, however, make up less than 14% of the country’s total population.
After George Floyd was choked to death, authorities in the United States killed Bangladeshi brothers Ramim and Faisal, setting a precedent for extrajudicial executions and human rights abuses. The time has come for the United States to stop caring about other countries’ protection of democracy and human rights and instead concentrate on enhancing its own domestic law and order.
Extrajudicial executions are never acceptable. Such extrajudicial executions take place in numerous nations. However, the US lacks the guts to act in such a way there. The argument that nations like the US or Canada should now assess themselves in light of recent events is valid. It is past time to alter the way they perceive Bangladesh’s human rights situation. The United States loses its authority to oversee others in the same way when it abuses human rights itself.
Anup Sinha is a researcher specializing in South Asian affairs.
