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Volume 6, Issue 6
EPIB Trail
Human Rights in the United States: UNHRC Report By Holly Berman On March 27th, 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) issued a disturbing report, accusing the United States of a wide variety of human rights violations. The report was a result of a review of U.S. compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), an important human rights treaty, and one of the few international treaties that the United States has actually signed and ratified. The report included concerns about over a dozen issues, including unlawful torture, immigrants’ rights, voting rights, counterterrorism operations, and racial profiling. Amnesty International’s U.N. representative stated, “The U.S. is adept at demanding human rights change from other governments while failing to meet international standards itself”. A laundry list of human rights violations was addressed in the UNHRC report, including internal surveillance, drone use, and unlawful killings. With regards to drone use, the committee cited, “the lack
of transparency regarding the criteria for drone strikes, including the legal justification for specific attacks, and the lack of accountability for the loss of life resulting from such attacks” (UNHRC Report). The committee went on to condemn the United States’ response to these accusations, citing the absence of extensive investigations and convictions. The United States claims that these drone strikes are only used in self-defense, against organizations such as al-Qaida and the Taliban, but the United Nations felt that precautionary measures to prevent civilian deaths were undefined. Another main issue in the report denounced the United States for its failure to close Guantánamo Bay, a prison known for its extensive use of torture and unlawful detainment. Obama previously committed to close this prison, but has yet to follow through. The UNHRC report claims that detainees have been held there for over a decade without charge or trial,
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