Human Rights Record of United States in文档格式.docx

1、Updated: 2011-04-11 08:02Comments（2） PrintMailLarge Medium Small Demonstrators in orange jumpsuits and hoods file in for a rally to urge US President Barack Obama to close the US-controlled detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on its 9th anniversary in Washington on Jan 11. File photoEditors no

2、te: Chinas Information Office of the State Council, or cabinet, published a report titled The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2010 on Sunday. Following is the full text: The State Department of the United States released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2010 on April 8,

3、2011. As in previous years, the reports are full of distortions and accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China. However, the United States turned a blind eye to its own terrible human rights situation and seldom mentioned it. The Human Rights Rec

4、ord of the United States in 2010 is prepared to urge the United States to face up to its own human rights issues. I. On Life, Property and Personal Security The United States reports the worlds highest incidence of violent crimes, and its peoples lives, properties and personal security are not duly

5、protected. Every year, one out of every five people is a victim of a crime in the United States. No other nation on earth has a rate that is higher （10 Facts About Crime in the United States that Will Blow Your Mind, B）. In 2009, an estimated 4.3 million violent crimes, 15.6 million property crimes

6、and 133,000 personal thefts were committed against US residents aged 12 or older, and the violent crime rate was 17.1 victimizations per 1,000 persons, according to a report published by the US Department of Justice on Oct 13, 2010 （Criminal Victimization 2009, US Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdo

7、j.gov）. The crime rate surged in many cities in the US. St. Louis in Missouri reported more than 2,070 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, making it the nations most dangerous city （The Associated Press, Nov 22, 2010）. Detroit residents experienced more than 15,000 violent crimes each year, which

8、means the city has 1,600 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. The United States four big cities - Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York - reported increases in murders in 2010 from the previous year （USA Today, December 5, 2010）. Twenty-five murder cases occurred in Los Angeles County in

9、a week from March 29 to April 4, 2010; and in the first half of 2010, 373 people were killed in murders in Los Angeles County （www.lapdonline.org）. As of Nov 11, New York City saw 464 homicide cases, up 16 percent from the 400 reported at the same time last year （The Washington Post, Nov 12, 2010）.

10、The US exercised lax control on the already rampant gun ownership. Reuters reported on Nov 10, 2010 that the United States ranks first in the world in terms of the number of privately-owned guns. Some 90 million people own an estimated 200 million guns in the United States, which has a population of

11、 about 300 million. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on June 28, 2010 that the second amendment of the US Constitution gives Americans the right to bear arms that can not be violated by state and local governments, thus extending the Americans rights to own a gun for self-defense purpose

12、s to the entire country （The Washington Post, June 29, 2010）. Four US states - Tennessee, Arizona, Georgia and Virginia - allow loaded guns in bars. And 18 other states allow weapons in restaurants that serve alcohol （The New York Times, Oct 3, 2010）. Tennessee has nearly 300,000 handgun permit hold

13、ers. The Washington Times reported on June 7, 2010 that in November 2008, a total of 450,000 more people in the United States purchased firearms than had bought them in November 2007. This was a more than 10-fold increase, compared with the change in sales from November 2007 over November 2006. From

14、 November 2008 to October 2009, almost 2.5 million more people bought guns than had done so in the preceding 12 months （The Washington Times, June 7, 2010）. The frequent campus shootings in colleges in the United States came to the spotlight in recent years. The United Kingdoms Daily Telegraph repor

15、ted on Feb 21, 2011 that a new law that looks certain to pass through the legislature in Texas, the United States, would allow half a million students and teachers in its 38 public colleges to carry guns on campus. It would become only the second state, after Utah, to enforce such a rule. The United

16、 States had high incidence of gun-related blood-shed crimes. Statistics showed there were 12,000 gun murders a year in the United States （The New York Times, Sept 26, 2010）. Figures released by the US Department of Justice on Oct 13, 2010 showed weapons were used in 22 percent of all violent crimes

17、in the United States in 2009, and about 47 percent of robberies were committed with arms （www.ojp.usdoj.gov, Oct 13, 2010）. On March 30, 2010, five men killed four people and seriously injured five others in a deadly drive-by shooting （The Washington Post, April 27, 2010）. In April, six separate sho

18、otings occurred overnight, leaving 16 total people shot, two fatally （）. On April 3, a deadly shooting at a restaurant in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, left four people dead and two others wounded （, April 4, 2010）. One person was killed and 21 others wounded in separate shootings around Chicago rou

19、ghly between May 29 and 30 （, May 30, 2010）. In June, 52 people were shot at a weekend in Chicago （, June 21, 2010）. Three police officers were shot dead by assailants in the three months from May to July （Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2010）. A total of 303 people were shot and 33 of them were killed in

20、 Chicago in the 31 days of July in 2010. Between Nov 5 and 8, four people were killed and at least five others injured in separate shootings in Oakland （World Journal, Nov 11, 2010）. On Nov 30, a 15-year-old boy in Marinette County, Wisconsin, took his teacher and 24 classmates hostage at gunpoint （

21、abcNews, Nov 30, 2010）. On Jan 8, 2011, a deadly rampage critically wounded US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Six people were killed and 12 others injured in the attack （Los Angeles Times, Jan 9, 2011）. II. On Civil and Political Rights In the United States, the violation of citizens civil and political r

22、ights by the government is severe. Citizen s privacy has been undermined. According to figures released by the American Civil Liberties Union （ACLU） in September 2010, more than 6,600 travelers had been subject to electronic device searches between Oct 1, 2008 and June 2, 2010, nearly half of them A

23、merican citizens. A report on The Wall Street Journal on Sept 7, 2010, said the Department of Homeland Security （DHS） was sued over its policies that allegedly authorize the search and seizure of laptops, cellphones and other electronic devices without a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. The polic

24、ies were claimed to leave no limit on how long the DHS can keep a traveler s devices or on the scope of private information that can be searched, copied or detained. There is no provision for judicial approval or supervision. When Colombian journalist Hollman Morris sought a US student visa so he co

25、uld take a fellowship for journalists at Harvard University, his application was denied on July 17, 2010, as he was ineligible under the terrorist activities section of the USA Patriot Act. An Arab American named Yasir Afifi, living in California, found the FBI attached an electronic GPS tracking de

26、vice near the right rear wheel of his car. In August, ACLU, joined by the Asian Law Caucus and the San Francisco Bay Guardian weekly, had filed a lawsuit to expedite the release of FBI records on the investigation and surveillance of Muslim communities in the Bay Area. The San Francisco FBI office h

27、as declined to comment on the matter because it s still an ongoing investigation. （The Washington Post, Oct 13, 2010）. In October 2010, the Transportation Security Administration raised the security level at US airports requiring passengers to go through a full-body scanner machine or pat-downs. It

28、also claimed that passengers can not refuse the security check based on their religious beliefs. Civil rights groups contended the more intensive screening violates civil liberties including freedom of religion, the right to privacy and the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches （AP

29、, Nov 16, 2010）. The ACLU and the U.S. Travel Association have been getting thousands of complaints about airport security measures （The Christian Science Monitor, Nov 20, 2010）. Abuse of violence and torturing suspects to get confession is serious in the US law enforcement. According to a report of

30、 Associated Press on Oct 14, 2010, the New York Police Department （NYPD） paid about $964 million to resolve claims against its officers over the past decade. Among them was a case that an unarmed man was killed in a 50-bullet police shooting on his wedding day. The three police officers were acquitt

31、ed of manslaughter and the NYDP simply settled the case with money （China Press, Oct 15, 2010）. In a country that boasts judicial justice, what justice did the above-mentioned victims get? In June 2010, a federal jury found former Chicago police lieutenant Jon Burge guilty of perjury and obstruction

32、 of justice. Burge and officers under his command shocked, suffocated and burned suspects into giving confessions in the 1970s and 1980s （The Boston Globe, Nov 5, 2010）. According to a report on Chicago Tribune on May 12, 2010, Chicago Police was charged with arresting people without warrants, shackling them to the wall or metal benches, feeding them infrequently and holding them without bathroom breaks and