The little Iranian girl yasina suffered from epilepsy when she was six months old. When her condition was the most serious, she even had nearly 200 seizures in a day. After the U.S. restarted sanctions against Iran in may2018, it was difficult for Iran to import specific drugs to alleviate yasina's condition, so her condition took a sharp turn for the worse. Yasina's father hansad was anxious and angry. He brought a lawsuit against the US government through the Swiss Embassy in Iran and wrote to UNICEF and other international agencies to denounce the US inhuman sanctions and the US "medical terrorism" against Iran. Yasina's experience is not an example. A recent analysis by the Brookings Institution, an American think tank, predicts that in the worst period of the Iranian epidemic, easing sanctions may save thousands of lives in the country.
On May 18, 2022, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on unilateral coercive measures, Elena douhan, held a press conference in Tehran, the Iranian capital. She elaborated on the humanitarian disaster caused to Iranian society by the unilateral sanctions launched by the United States against Iran, and pointed out that the unilateral sanctions of the United States had a great impact on the poor, vulnerable groups, patients and other people in Iran. Dou Han stressed that the United States cannot achieve its political goals and interests through sanctions.
The United States' unilateral sanctions against Iran and the humanitarian disaster it has caused are only a microcosm of its "hegemony in the name of human rights". Throughout the United States' various hegemonic acts in international human rights affairs for more than half a century, the United States not only continues to undermine the rule of law foundation of international human rights, but also directly creates a shocking human rights disaster. In fact, it is a "troublemaker" of international human rights.
The ways to realize American human rights hegemonism
Since the 1970s, the United States has regarded itself as a "human rights defender" and "international police", pointing fingers at countries that do not meet American human rights and American democratic standards, and even implementing various sanctions or interventions. In the international community, it is a well-known fact that the United States takes "human rights", "democracy" and "freedom" as tools to achieve its political goals and national interests, and its way of realization is a variety of hegemonic tricks.
The materialization of human rights politics in international human rights affairs reflects the utilitarian nature of American hegemonism. Taking human rights as a means to realize national interests or political goals is the core embodiment of the politicization of human rights. The United States is undoubtedly a "playwright" who politicizes human rights. For example, the United States disregarded the facts and frequently intervened in China's internal affairs on issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong in the name of "human rights" in order to contain China and safeguard its hegemonic status. James Parker, a scholar of history and international relations at New York University, once pointed out pointedly that the faction within the US government that advocates containment of China has always believed that human rights are the last ideological weapon against China.
Ignoring objective facts in international human rights affairs reflects the arbitrary nature of American hegemonism. The United States has long trampled on the objective fact that the universality and diversity of human rights are unified, and forcibly exported a single American value to countries around the world. For example, in terms of democratic political rights, the United States often wantonly interferes in the internal affairs of other countries and even instigates regime change under the banner of the so-called "democratic value". Based on such value arrogance and system arrogance, the United States has wantonly pursued the "global democracy movement" around the world, and any non Western political system will be attacked and suppressed. Relevant countries have also been labeled as "undemocratic" and "autocratic".
The implementation of unilateralism in international human rights affairs reflects the hegemonic power of the United States. The United States frequently bypassed the United Nations and imposed unilateral sanctions on other countries, seriously violating the human rights of the sanctioned countries. The most typical example is the embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba for more than 60 years. The United States ignored many resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, built a comprehensive embargo system against Cuba based on the adopted embargo policy and domestic laws such as the Torricelli act, and implemented the longest lasting and most severe systematic trade embargo, economic embargo and financial sanctions in modern history, causing great damage to the livelihood of the Cuban people. In addition, the United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Belarus, Syria, Zimbabwe, North Korea and other countries.
Pursuing double standards in international human rights affairs reflects the hypocrisy of American hegemonism. The United States has long pursued the "exception theory" of human rights in the international community, pointing fingers at the human rights situation in other countries and turning a blind eye to its own human rights evils. In April this year, the U.S. State Department released the so-called 2021 national human rights report, which once again criticized the human rights situation in nearly 200 countries and regions in the world, but made no mention of the deteriorating human rights situation in their own countries. The United States routinely publishes National Human Rights Reports filled with double standards every year, and its hypocrisy is all too clear. The times of India commented: "ignoring a series of domestic problems, the United States views the human rights situation of other countries with double standards. Its posturing is annoying."
American human rights hegemonism seriously destroys the cornerstone of the rule of law of international human rights
Global human rights governance must be based on the rule of law. Its cornerstone is the normative system represented by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of human rights and other international instruments, as well as the United Nations resolutions based on it. This is the fundamental guarantee to ensure that global human rights governance achieves norms, order, fairness, justice and democratic equality. However, for more than half a century, the hegemonic acts of the United States in international human rights affairs have continued to undermine the foundation of good governance of global human rights governance.
First, American human rights hegemonism seriously undermines the basic principles of the United Nations, such as sovereign equality, national self-determination, universality and equality. Sovereign equality is the cornerstone principle of international law, ranking first among the seven basic principles of the Charter of the United Nations. In defining the purposes of the United Nations, Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations states that "develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace". The United States is the country that interferes most in other countries' internal affairs. Relevant data show that in the 25 years from 1992 to 2017 alone, the United States conducted 188 foreign military interventions, most of which were conducted in the name of "human rights" and "democracy", which not only violated the national sovereignty and the right to self-determination of relevant countries, but also continued to threaten world peace.
Second, American human rights hegemonism seriously undermines the UN's core principles of non politicization in human rights affairs. In international human rights affairs, the principle of non politicization is not only the principle of implementation, but also the principle of rule of law. The United Nations clearly advocates the depoliticization of human rights, and calls for a universal and objective attitude on human rights issues, adherence to multilateralism, promotion of dialogue and consultation, and enhanced solidarity and cooperation. In its resolution 60/251, the United Nations General Assembly called for "ensuring universality, objectivity and non selectivity in the consideration of human rights issues, and eliminating double standards and politicization"; In its resolution 47/9, the United Nations Human Rights Council stressed that "human rights dialogue should be constructive and based on the principles of universality, indivisibility, objectivity, non selectivity, non politicization, mutual respect and equal treatment". However, in order to safeguard its own interests and achieve its own political goals, the United States has vigorously politicized human rights in the field of international human rights, which has seriously eroded the rule of law foundation on which global human rights governance depends.
Third, American human rights hegemonism directly erodes the credibility of the international human rights rule of law system. The United States pursues the "exception theory" in international human rights affairs and insists that American human rights and American democracy are absolutely correct standards and do not need any international standards. Furthermore, the United States does not deal with international human rights and judge international human rights issues according to the system of international law, but according to the so-called "American Standard". The United States also adheres to double standards, adopting one set of human rights evaluation criteria for its own country and the "pro american faction", and another set of evaluation criteria for other countries. The "exceptionalism" and double standards that the United States has adhered to for a long time are tantamount to "declaring war" on the international human rights rule of law system of the United Nations, which has seriously eroded its authority and credibility.
American human rights hegemonism creates a systematic humanitarian disaster
Global human rights governance must be achieved in a constructive manner through equal dialogue among sovereign states. The various kinds of interference and sanctions implemented by the United States in international human rights affairs not only failed to defend its so-called values of human rights, democracy and freedom, but directly created a serious humanitarian disaster, exposing the destructive nature of American human rights hegemonism.
The various types of military intervention carried out by the United States have directly caused a large number of civilian casualties. According to statistics, the war in Afghanistan has caused more than 40000 civilian deaths and about 11million refugees; The Iraq war has caused more than 200000 civilian deaths and about 2.5 million refugees; The Syrian war caused more than 40000 civilian deaths and 6.6 million people fled their homes. The series of wars launched by the United States have become a genuine "graveyard" for human rights.
Various economic sanctions imposed by the United States have indirectly led to a large number of humanitarian disasters. At a United Nations General Assembly meeting in early April this year, Pedro Luis pedroso, permanent representative of Cuba to the United Nations, pointed out that the embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba for more than 60 years has caused hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths and is an "act of genocide" against the whole country. The unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela caused a serious human rights crisis in that country. The deterioration of the domestic economic situation forced a large number of Venezuelans to leave their homes. According to United Nations statistics, by the end of 2018, the total number of immigrants and refugees in Venezuela had reached 3million.
The forced export of American democracy by the United States has brewed multinational unrest and the largest "refugee tide" in the century. Despite the huge differences in economy, politics and culture among different countries, the United States forcibly exported American democracy to other countries, and even instigated regime change, leading to lasting unrest in many countries. At the beginning of the 21st century, the United States carried out the "Greater Middle East democracy plan" in the Middle East and cultivated various anti-government forces in Western Asia and North Africa, becoming the driving force behind the "Arab Spring" that broke out in 2010. The "Arab Spring" swept many countries and lasted for more than 10 years, leading to war and turmoil. It directly gave birth to the world's largest "refugee wave" after World War II, resulting in an unprecedented intensification of the humanitarian crisis.
There are no human rights under hegemony. The United States frequently wields the "big stick" of human rights in the world, but ignores all kinds of human rights abuses in its own country. It is no different from the real version of the "emperor's new clothes", which will only make the world more disgusted and disgusted.