Xinhua Headlines: U.S. faces anger, disappointment at ongoing major UN conferences
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E-mail Xinhua, September 30, 2021
by Xinhua writer Nie Xiaoyang
GENEVA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- "While evacuating from Afghanistan, the United States still killed civilians including children. Amazing that the U.S. has the cheek to talk about human rights," said a Geneva-based diplomat who wanted to remain anonymous.
In New York, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who was there for the week of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), told reporters that he did not intend to meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, accusing Washington of betrayal.
Anger and disappointment over the United States from a number of other countries, even its allies, have been widely observed at the two ongoing major UN conferences -- the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva and the 76th session of the UNGA in New York.
In the eyes of many representatives, the United States is no longer a "decent power," but a disgraceful one, as it violates human rights, breaches international norms, and betrays allies' trust.
SHAMEFUL HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS
The four-week UN human rights session is being held at a time when Afghanistan is experiencing dramatic changes after the United States pulled out.
On Sept. 14, the second day of the UNHRC session, a joint statement by China and a group of like-minded countries pointed out that the U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan is the root cause of the humanitarian disaster in the war-torn country.
By April 2020, at least 47,000 Afghan civilians had been killed in the two-decade-long war and more than 10 million Afghan people were displaced, said the joint statement.
Another joint statement issued on the same day voiced concerns about the general human rights deterioration in the United States.
It accused Washington of disregarding the right to life and right to health of its people, saying that the country possesses the most advanced medical equipment and technologies, but has seen the largest COVID-19 caseload and the highest death toll worldwide.
Systemic racism and racial discrimination have long existed in the United States as well. Africans and people of African descent, Asians and people of Asian descent, Muslims and other minority groups continue to suffer discrimination and harm, said the second statement.
As one of the world's richest countries, the United States is "the only developed country where millions of people are still starving, and nearly one seventh of its population is struggling with poverty," it added.
Jiang Duan, minister of the Chinese Mission to the UN office in Geneva, told the Council on Sept. 17 that nearly 100,000 people are trafficked to the United States from abroad for forced labor every year, and at least 500,000 people are subjected to contemporary forms of slavery in the country.
"A large number of children are trapped working in the agricultural sector, and many of them started to work from the age of eight," the diplomat noted. Meanwhile, "roughly 240,000 to 325,000 women and children in the United States are victims of sexual slavery."
Indeed, the United States' self-imposed image of "human rights champion" is deteriorating.
LOW POLITICAL TRICKS
In the latest joint statement submitted by the Organization for Defending Victims of Violence and a number of other NGOs, concerns about the unilateral coercive measures (UCMs), frequently taken by the United States, were presented at the UNHRC session.
"Sanctions can create severe suffering for individuals who have neither perpetrated crimes nor otherwise bear any responsibility. When sanctions target an entire country, it is the most vulnerable people in that country who are likely to be harmed the worst," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said at a panel discussing the issue of UCMs.
Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of UCMs on the enjoyment of human rights, told the Council that the overwhelming majority of unilateral measures applied today were illegal under international law.
Speaking virtually during the session, a diplomat from Venezuela criticized the United States for continuing to promote its failed policy of seeking changes in sovereign governments, at the expense of the peoples.
During the ongoing session, China, as a victim of the United States' lies and rumors, also stood out.
The United States, trying to reap benefits from spreading disinformation about China, has crossed the rudimentary moral line in bashing others, the Chinese Mission at Geneva said in a statement.
To serve its own political interests, Washington has been using the human rights issue as a political tool and trying to create division and turbulence around the world, the statement said, noting that it is an old U.S. trick all too familiar to others.
In the statement, China urged the United States to act as a "decent power" and invest its resources in improving the welfare and human rights of its own people, rather than violating the human rights of people in other countries and playing low political tricks.
INTERNATIONAL OUTRAGE
During the two UN meetings, a number of countries have spoken out against what the United States has done and has been doing to the rest of the world.
In his speech to the high-level general debate at the UNGA on Sept. 23, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel underlined the importance of multilateralism and condemned U.S. foreign policy.
He said via a pre-recorded video that the United States is promoting a "dangerous international schism ... through the pernicious use and abuse of economic coercive measures."
The Cuban president also criticized Washington for pressuring countries to speak and act against those it has identified as adversaries, overthrowing legitimate governments, and breaking trade agreements, saying that the U.S. behavior "is associated with ideological and cultural intolerance."
In his speech at the UNGA on Sept. 21, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called for an end to U.S. sanctions upon his country, saying that those sanctions are a new method of war with other nations in the world, and a crime against humanity, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a pre-recorded message to the 76th session of the UNGA, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry said that he and many others were shocked by the U.S. treatment of Haitian asylum-seekers at the border between Mexico and the United States, referring to a recent video showing U.S. border patrol agents chasing Haitian migrants on horseback.
Similarly, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi stressed that the summary and mass expulsions of individuals at the U.S. border are "inconsistent with international norms and may constitute refoulement."
Recently, even some U.S. allies voiced complaints against the superpower. Referring to the nuclear submarine deal among the United States, Britain and Australia, French Foreign Minister Le Drian warned of a "crisis of trust" between allies.
"It's about talking to one another, not hiding from one another, in particular on matters of importance. Why was all that missing, why was all that hidden?" he asked. Enditem
(Xinhua reporter Wang Jiangang at the UN headquarters in New York also contributed to the story.)
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