RNA - The Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, that would impose sanctions on Iranian government officials for detention of US citizens and alleged human rights violations, also allows the US to hold Iranian officials accountable for detention of citizens and other persons with connections to Canada, Britain, France, and other nations allied with Washington. It must be approved by the House and Senate before it can be sent to President Donald Trump for signing into law.
The fact that the legislative move is completely illegal is beyond doubt as it equals intervention in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state trying the agents and spies of a foreign country. That this latest move is politically-motivated is beyond dispute as well. What’s important, however, is to ask whether the United States government is really fit to preach other nations on respecting human rights, much less impose sanctions on them for alleged violations? Consider the following:
Saudi Arabia
The Trump White House repeatedly coddles autocratic leaders and shows little interest or leadership in pressing them to respect basic human rights and the International Humanitarian Law in places like, Syria, Yemen and occupied Palestine. Saudi Arabia, as an example, is a reliable and convenient ally to the United States, and that matters more to the Senate and Congress than the lives of millions of Yemenis who are starving to death because of the US-backed, Saudi-led war and blockade.
Syria
In Syria, the US government identifies the odious ISIL and Al-Qaeda with an almost medieval evil, yet it's been working with them in a tacit alliance toward regime change in Damascus - despite the fact that the Syrian government is at the forefront of the war on terror. The same kind of US logic holds in respect to Iran which is helping Syria to fight America’s terror proxy forces.
Refugees and Migrants
The Trump White House continues to move backward on human rights at home. Trump has targeted refugees and immigrants, calling them criminals and security threats; emboldened racist politics by equivocating on white nationalism; and consistently championed anti-Muslim ideas and policies. His administration has undermined police accountability for racial abuse. Trump has also expressed disdain for independent media and for federal courts that have blocked some of his racist actions.
Laws and Practices
The victims most likely to suffer abuse in the US - including members of racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, children, the poor, and prisoners - are often least able to defend their rights in court or via the political process. These vulnerable groups have no choice but to endure the US government’s systematic attacks on their rights. Other longstanding US laws and practices continue to violate internationally recognized human rights. For instance, a surge in immigration arrests of people living in the United States is having a devastating impact on long-term immigrants with strong ties to the US.
Harsh Criminal Sentencing
On any given day in the US, there are 2.3 million people in state and federal prisons and jails - the world’s largest incarcerated population. Concerns about over-incarceration in prisons have led some states and the US Congress to propose reforms. A new Human Rights Watch report demonstrates that pretrial detention coerces people, some innocent, into pleading guilty just to get out of jail.
Torture Program
Trump has kept the US prison at Guantanamo Bay open and sent new detainees there for torture. The US continues to hold many suspects at the facility indefinitely without charge, nearly all of whom have been there for more than a decade. The US continues to prosecute many more suspects for alleged terrorist offenses in Guantanamo’s fundamentally flawed military commissions system, which does not meet international fair trial standards.
Freedom of Expression and Assembly
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights continues to express concern that “freedom of the press in the United States is under attack from the President.” Two UN experts have also expressed alarm about government legislative proposals seeking to “criminalize peaceful protests and a militarized, at times violent, escalation of force against protesters opposing the US policies at home and abroad.”
UNHRC
According to Fars News Agancy, The Trump administration has announced it might withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) over purported bias against Israel, among other claims. This is primarily because of the body's dedicated agenda item on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including restoration of Palestinian rights to freedom and self-determination. The US also always vetoes any anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council.
This should be more than enough to conclude that a system which denies the existence of basic human rights for its own people is in no way fit to preach others on basic human rights in other parts of the world. Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream in the United States, the burden continues to rest with the legal community and with the American human-rights lobbies and non-governmental organizations. They can and they should become seized by the exalted standards to hold the US government to account.
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