America’s Remarkable Complacency about its own Human Rights Abuses

The United States government last Friday August 20, after a long ten-year gap, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council the Universal Periodic Review – a self evaluation of its own human rights record required under the UN Charter – acknowledging the need for improvement in several key areas but concealed many human rights violations it committed in its ‘war against global terrorism’ which have been under severe scrutiny and criticism by many global rights organizations.

The 29-page report gives the reader the impression of America’s remarkable complacency about its own war crimes and human rights abuses while officially encouraging other nations to improve their record and pressing them for greater openness and transparency.

The U.S. Universal Periodic Review of its own human rights record does not project any transparency or openness.

"It is time for the US to match its human rights rhetoric with concrete domestic policies and actions and create a human rights culture and infrastructure that promote American values of equality and justice for all," said Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Human Rights Program.

According to the ACLU, the US report correctly acknowledges the need for improvement in several key areas, including racial justice, women's rights, and discrimination against Muslims and Americans of South Asian and Arab descent.

However, the report neglects to address other key areas where the US has failed to meet its human rights obligations, including felon disfranchisement, inhumane prison conditions, racial disparities in the death penalty system and deaths and abuse in immigration detention.

In one of his first moves to reach out to the international community, President Barack Obama decided that the U.S. should run for a seat on the council. The Bush administration had shunned the panel for years over its alleged disproportionate criticism of Israel and membership that includes repressive regimes.

Human Rights First was critical of the U.S. for concealing salient facts of prisoner abuse, detention without trial and not taking measures to remove several interrogation practices from the US Army Manual.

Counter Terrorism Policies: The United States continues to hold more than 800 detainees in military facilities at Guantanamo Bay and in Afghanistan without charge or trial. Due to the government’s overly broad definition of armed conflict and belligerency, many of these detainees are being held in violation of international law. Some are slated for trial in military commissions which do not comport with international due process standards. The government has also failed to provide adequate information about detainees reportedly abused in a “black site” in Afghanistan. Although the government has clarified and improved its interrogation methods, the interrogation guidance is still susceptible to abuse that would violate international law. The United States has also failed to adequately investigate past incidents of torture and detainee abuse, and to provide remedies and compensation for victims as required.

There is absolutely no mention of these facts in the U.S. report or address the issue in the periphery.

Counter-Terrorism Policies Violating International Law:

Detention Authority: The United States continues to hold nearly 200 individuals in indefinite detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Although the Obama administration has repatriated some detainees, it has continued to hold many who have been cleared for release or won orders of release from a U.S. court. The government is now reportedly planning to hold about 50 detainees indefinitely without charge or trial. Another 600 or more individuals are detained by the United States in Afghanistan. Many of these individuals are being held in violation of Article 9(4) and Article 14 of the ICCPR, which states that detainees are entitled to public, independent and impartial court proceedings to determine the lawfulness of their detention. These detentions are problematic even if judged by the standards of International Humanitarian Law which might be argued to apply to these situations as lex specialis.

The United States under the Obama administration has slightly limited its claim of authority to detain terror suspects pursuant to the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Act. However, the authority it claims still exceeds the detention authority provided under international humanitarian law—including that governed by the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions—by asserting overly expansive definitions of armed conflict and belligerency.

Interrogation: In early 2009, President Obama issued an executive order ending the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and requiring U.S. interrogators to comply with the restrictions set forth in the Army Field Manual.

The Manual still allows coercive interrogation techniques, such as sleep deprivation, prolonged isolation, sensory deprivation, and inducing fear and humiliation of prisoners. Such methods may be used alone or in combination pursuant to the Field Manual. Such techniques can cause long-lasting psychological and physical harm and can violate both longstanding rules of customary international law as well as such treaty provisions as Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and Article 16 of the Convention against Torture, which prohibit cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. The Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record the U.S. does not mention about any progressive changes to the Bush administration interrogation practices.

Nor the United States declare in the Report that it is committed to the accountability of past violations under the previous Bush administration.
Accountability for past violations: The United States has announced a preliminary review of whether federal laws were violated in the conduct of interrogations overseas. However, it has refused to investigate whether the abuses were due to illegal policies and practices sanctioned by senior U.S. officials, who may also be culpable. Article 7 of ‘The Convention Against Torture’ (CAT) demands such an investigation. Article 14 of the CAT and Article 2 of the ICCPR, as well as the Geneva Conventions, require the United States to provide remedies to victims of torture and abuse. The Obama administration has not expressed any plan to provide such remedies or compensation.

The Obama Administration’s maiden human rights accountability report to the UN Human Rights Council does not give any indication that it will revise the U.S. Army Field Manual to ensure that it does not permit conduct that violates international human rights and humanitarian law.

The Administration neither tells in the report that it will abandon the use of military commissions and try detainees in regularly constituted U.S. military tribunals or civilian, federal courts.

There is no sign of establishing accountability that it require from other foreign nations that it will initiate prompt and impartial investigations into all credible allegations of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since the Obama administration has no intention of bringing those persons alleged to have participated in torture should be prosecuted (including) those that committed, attempted to commit, or were complicit) there is no such mention in the Human Rights Report it submitted to the UN Human Rights Commission.

However the Report states: (Quote) the United States is currently at war with Al Qaeda and its associated forces. President Obama has made clear that the United States is fully committed to complying with the Constitution and with all applicable domestic and international law, including the laws of war, in all aspects of this or any armed conflict. We start from the premise that there are no law-free zones, and that everyone is entitled to protection under law. In his Nobel Lecture, the President made clear that “where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules…the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war.” (Unquote)
Report submitted to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in conjunction with the Universal Periodic Review further says under Detention and Treatment of Detainees:

(Begin Quote) On his second full day in office, President Obama acted to implement this vision by issuing three Executive Orders relating to U.S. detention, interrogation, and transfer policies and the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.