Human Rights Issues
April 11th, 2008
Submitted By: Nic Marlin
Last Tuesday, March 11, the U.S. Department of State issued “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007.” The reports criticize over 190 countries and regions on their human rights issues.
From which country does it sound like the following issues/ statistics come from?
• Millions of underage girls become sex slaves in this country
• 1.41 million violent crimes were reported nationwide in 2006, an increase of 1.9 percent over 2005
• Of the violent crimes, the estimated number of murders and non negligent manslaughters increased 1.8 percent
• Throughout 2006, residents of this country age 12 or above experienced an estimated 25 million crimes of violence and theft
• About 30,000 people die from gun wounds every year
• In 2007, this country witnessed the deadliest shooting rampage in the country’s modern history
• The government has seriously violated the freedom and rights of its citizens; violations of civil rights in this country have risen 25% from 2001 to 2007
• One out of eight of this country’s citizens lives in poverty
• Racial discrimination is a deep-rooted social illness in this country
• This country has the highest inmate to population ratio in the world
Can you guess which country this is? The last one gives it away doesn’t it? These are statistics of the United States and they come from various credible sources, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the FBI (see this People’s Daily Online article).
In response to the reports the U.S. Department of State issued, China issued a report called, “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007.” After being criticized for human rights issues by the U.S., the Chinese government felt it was necessary to point out a few human rights issues in the United States that the U.S. reports neglected.
A recent article titled, “China hits back at US on rights…,” highlights a few key arguments in the Chinese report. The article points out that “(America’s) arrogant critique on the human rights of other countries are always accompanied by a deliberate ignoring of serious human rights problems on its own territory.” Other arguments are that “the United States has a notorious record of trampling on the sovereignty of and violating human rights in other countries,” and that “the invasion of Iraq by American troops has produced the biggest human rights tragedy and the greatest humanitarian disaster in modern world.” It also criticized civilian deaths in Afghanistan, secret prisons, and torture of detainees.
The Chinese report serves as a good reminder for the citizens of the United States to reflect upon its own issues. For those of you who did not guess the correct country from the statistics above, why do you think that you are unaware of these U.S. statistics? Is there a reason that people in the United States do not know the real [Nic, this somehow got cut off. How should the remainder read? - Prof. Carr]
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Beijing, China, India
7 Comments Add your own
1. Chris Carr | April 11th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Good post.
Keep in mind the People’s Daily is viewed by most as a biased mouthpiece for the CCP. But that does not mean all of their reporting is bad. It’s like many papers, some good, some bad. Some balanced; some not.
Having said that, the import of your post, to me at least, is that the CCP is getting much more savvy and sophisticated in their PR geopolitical approach and how they counter-punch in the press and on the world stage. This is not your momma or your daddy’s CCP. They have learned the game.
Most of the time, anyway …
I am not sure they are wise to dig in their heels as the Tibet-Olympic torch thing continues to heat up, though it appears to be playing well domestically to their own citizenry. Like the US, the CCP has to play to different stakeholders on different issues.
Having said that, after Dr. Morris’ outstanding session with you in the Fall, you now know at a macro level what drives this and what we are seeing while most Americans do not and/or don’t care — that is, they/the Chinese can be as nationalistic as we/the US (at times even more so), and they remain understandably bent on making the point that they are “back” after their 100 to 200 year down time post-Opium wars butt kicking by Western powers (they went 0 for 2) and after the colonial powers then came in, carved them up like a melon, made them sign several onerous treaties, etc.
To reiterate what Chairman Mao began 70 years ago upon the founding of the CCP when he addressed the masses at Tiananmen after the Chinese ran the Nationalists-KMT and western powers out of China (the former who fled to Taiwan) and what continues today through its economic rising …. “We [China] have stood up.”
This is an incredible time in human history and you are all so very lucky to be alive and a part of it, young (most of you are in your twenties or thirties — all young) and with lots of life ahead of you.
You may not know this. When Tom Brokaw retired several years ago, he was asked what he would miss and/or regret. Paraphrasing him, he said, “I won’t live long enough to see how the China start up and turn around will play out.” Similarly, when business legend Jack Welsh of GE retired several years ago, he noted, “China is so vast and complicated. I don’t know the answer … that’s probably why I am retiring. Somebody else is going to have to figure it out” (source: China Economic Review, March 2003, pp. 24-26).
My challenge to each of you is to be a part of the crowd that offers solutions to the social, political, and business problems of today and tomorrow, and not sit on the side-line and complain. The world needs you, your brains and fresh ideas, and your hard work and commitment. Don’t let us down ….
2. Angie Q. Dip | April 12th, 2008 at 1:54 am
This was a good topic. From reading the first couple of statistics, I thought the country was probably going to be China or India, since this blog is for China and India, but I then started thinking this may be a trick question and I thought the statistics sounded like it fits the US. It is quite unbelievable how many statistics/issues the US should take responsibility for. I feel I am also at fault for reading the blogs required for our Chindia class and saying how China should have more concern for human rights (such as when it comes to providing ‘better’ conditions for workers). I never looked at the US and say the same thing, as I am sure there are companies here that also have poor working conditions and other similar issues that China has. We should all learn to stop playing the blame game and pointing fingers at other people - especially if we have the same problems and must learn to take responsibility for them.
3. Simeon Trieu | April 12th, 2008 at 9:09 am
The US definitely has a long to-do list and is not exempt from human rights issues. When reading the list, the numbers were too small to be about China or India. (A country of billions of people cannot just have a paltry 1.41 million reported violent crimes in 2006 with all the political unrest in China) China has been very civil in dealing with the many criticisms of its government, especially in light of such hypocrisy by the US and its citizens. The limelight, however, is on China since they are hosting the Olympics. They will be held to a higher standard, and that is something they cannot sidestep. Fix the human rights issues as best as you can China, for the world is not going to give you a break just because you point out other country’s faults.
4. Amy Linker | April 12th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Is that first statistic correct? Millions of underage girls become sex slaves in America. That does not seem right to me. And if it is, WOW! The other statistics about violent crimes seem right on the money. Unfortunately, sometimes our country likes to point fingers without looking at our own similar situation. This mindset is very hypocritical. It is no wonder the Chinese government decided to write this report. All countries face some sort of human rights issues. I find our high violent crime rate to be rather embarrassing. Most other developed countries do not have this problem. Why do we? Is it television and the mass media? Maybe we should address our own problems before we go pointing fingers at other countries.
5. Brandi Eng-Rohrbach | April 14th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I think this is a much needed reminder that 97.32% of statistics are manipulated to prove some point. I am always reminded of this on the Daily Show where they show highly skewed graphs to make points.
Nic, I think this post is extremely well done. You have done an excellent job of representing another viewpoint. Every coin has two sides as does every argument. The discussion of human rights is always relative. This just highlights that one must always be careful when criticizing others because one is then inviting criticism of themselves. Anyways, maybe we should not throw stones if we live in a glass house.
6. Simeon Trieu | April 15th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
It’s the US… ? And I was thinking China. The first statistic about sex trafficking is usually associated with Asian countries. I wonder if, on a percentage basis, if the US has the highest underage sex-trafficking to population ration in the world, too?
7. Deanna Haskell | April 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
This is a very interesting post. I think that it is important to evaluate how those statistics were determined. The body that determined them may skew them or the person reporting them could as well. It is also hard to compare statistics like this among countries because different places may have different classifications for certain acts ( such as what is considered a violent crime). Another problem with comparing countries using this type of statistic is that every country has a different culture and history. For example, the U.S. may have seen the deadlist shooting in their history, but I can say with confidence that it is not the deadlist shooting in the world. For that matter, the U.S. has been involved in human rights abuse abroad as well as at home, as have most countries. Obviously the United States abuses human rights issues. We probably would not call them rights if they weren’t violated at some point in time. I think the important thing is that people work to stop these abuses and try not to contribute to them ( no matter where you are in the world). Finger pointing is not very productive but at the same time recognition of the problem is a start. Maybe the Chinese published this report because they felt that it was time for the U.S. to recognize the problem at home rather than telling other people about their problems.
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