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Undated:
Human rights in the United States
comprise a series of rights which are legally protected by the
Constitution of the United States, including the
amendments,[1][2]
state constitutions, conferred by treaty and
customary international law, and enacted legislatively through Congress,
state legislatures, and state referenda and citizen's initiatives. Federal
courts in the United States have jurisdiction over
international human rights laws as a federal question, arising under
international law, which is part of the
law of the United States.[3]
The human rights record of the
United States of America is a complex matter with varying opinion first and
foremost the Federal Government of the United States has, through a ratified
constitution, guaranteed
unalienable rights to citizens of the country, and also to some degree,
non-citizens. These rights evolved over time through constitutional amendments,
supported by legislation and judicial precedent. Along with the rights
themselves, the periphery of the population who had access to these rights has
expanded over time. Today, the United States has a vibrant civil society and
strong constitutional protections for many civil and political rights.[4]
On a number of human rights issues, the United States has been internationally
criticized for its human rights record, including the least protections for
workers of most Western countries,[5]
the
imprisonment of debtors,[6]
and
the criminalization of homelessness and
poverty,[7][8][9]
the invasion of the privacy of its citizens through
surveillance programs,[10]
police brutality,[11][12]
police impunity,[13]
the
incarceration of citizens for profit, the
mistreatment of prisoners and
juveniles in the prison system, having the longest prison sentences of any
country, being the last Western country with a
death penalty, abuses of
illegal immigrants,[14]
including children,[15][16][17]
facilitating
state terrorism[18]
and the continued support for foreign dictators who commit abuses (including
genocide),[19][20]
forced disappearances,
extraordinary renditions,
extrajudicial detentions,
torture of
prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay and
black
sites, and
extrajudicial
targeted killings (Disposition
Matrix).[10][21][22][23]
Some observers give the U.S. high[24]
to fair[25]
marks on human rights, while others charge it with a persistent pattern of human
rights violations.[26][27][28][29]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_United_States
-- 2016 --
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Undated / updates ongoing: Trump Human
Rights Tracker
A collaboration between Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, Human
Rights Clinic, and the Columbia Human Rights Law Review
To aid journalists, civil society organizations, and the general public,
the Columbia Human Rights Law Review and Columbia
Law School’s Rightslink,
Human Rights Clinic, and
Human Rights Institute have launched this regularly updated tool to keep
track of the Executive Branch’s actions and their impacts on human rights. It
summarizes the action taken by the administration, identifies the human rights
implications, and provides links to sources where readers can find more detailed
analysis.
Input from those using this tool is welcome at
trumphumanrights@gmail.com.
http://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/the-trump-human-rights-tracker/
-- 2017 --
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Ongoing updates: Trump Administration Civil
and Human Rights Rollbacks
https://civilrights.org/trump-rollbacks/
January 14: Human Rights Watch lists Trump
as threat to human rights
Human Rights Watch is listing President-elect
Donald Trump as a threat to human rights, calling his campaign a
“vivid illustration of the politics of intolerance.”
“Donald Trump’s election as US president after a campaign fomenting hatred and
intolerance, and the rising influence of political parties in Europe that reject
universal rights, have put the postwar human rights system at risk,” the group
said in a Friday statement announcing a new report.
The 687-page World
Report analyzes Trump’s campaign, pointing to his rhetoric as a cause for
worry over human rights violations.
“(Trump’s) campaign floated proposals that would harm millions of people,
including plans to engage in massive deportations of immigrants, to curtail
women’s rights and media freedoms, and to use torture,” the report says, quoting
Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/314329-human-rights-org-lists-trump-as-threat-to-human-rights
April 2: Trump signals he won't press human
rights ahead of key diplomatic week
President Donald Trump will come face-to-face with the leaders of two nations
accused of grave human rights abuses in a spate of high-level talks with foreign
counterparts this week.
It will be the first in-person opportunity for the new US leader to confront
those issues as commander-in-chief. Initial signs, however, indicate Trump will
say little on the matter during his talks with the Presidents of Egypt and
China, at least in public, a dramatic shift away from the human rights practices
of previous administrations.
"Our approach is to handle these types of sensitive issues in a private, more
discrete way," a White House official said Friday, previewing Egyptian President
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's visit to the White House on Monday. "We believe it's the
most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome."
US presidents have long been forced to balance their public outcry on human
rights transgressions with the risk of alienating important US partners. The
outcome is rarely wholly appealing to human rights advocates, who argue a
president has unparalleled ability to sway another country's thinking.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/02/politics/donald-trump-human-rights-china-china/index.html
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April 26: USA: 100 ways Trump has threatened
human rights in first 100 days
As the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s administration come to a
close,
Amnesty International has compiled a list of 100 ways the Trump administration
has tried to threaten human rights in the USA and around the world –
sometimes succeeding, and sometimes being blocked by a powerful and growing
resistance movement.
“These first 100 days show how dangerous Trump’s agenda is, and they’re also a
roadmap for how to stop it and protect human rights in the USA and around the
world,” said Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA.
“When we sat down to document the first 100 days, it didn’t take long to
identify 100 ways this administration has threatened people’s human rights.
What’s incredible isn’t just all the ways the Trump administration has tried to
deny people freedom, justice, and equality – but all the ways that the public
has pushed back and refused to let it happen.”
“Whether it’s closing our borders, turning our backs on refugees, trying to ban
Muslims from the USA, or emboldening human rights abusers worldwide, President
Trump seems intent on stoking the fires of conflict outside US borders while
closing the door to those fleeing violence,” said Huang.
“We have learned that when we come together and fight back, we can make a
difference. The Trump administration’s ongoing threats to human rights remain –
but so does the resolve to defeat them.”
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/04/usa-100-ways-trump-has-threatened-human-rights-in-first-100-days/
November 14: 'Human Rights Are Largely
Irrelevant to the Emerging Trump Doctrine'
The president’s Asia tour reveals just how little such ideals factor into his
vision.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/trump-human-rights-asia-trip/545843/
-- 2018 --
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March 25: Donald Trump Has Been True to His
Word on Human Rights
His friendships with the world’s most notorious autocrats tell us everything we
need to know.
https://www.thenation.com/article/donald-trump-has-been-true-to-his-word-on-human-rights/
June 21: President Donald J. Trump is
Standing Up for Human Rights at the U.N.
Ending the human rights council farce: President Donald J. Trump and his
Administration have taken a stand for human rights and withdrawn from the United
Nations Human Rights Council (HRC).
Failing to fulfill its purpose: The HRC has failed to live up to its purpose,
serving as a shield for human rights violators and a megaphone for unfair bias
against Israel.
Countries with poor human rights records are routinely elected to the
HRC, and use it to shield themselves from criticism and impede efforts to
address their terrible records ... The HRC includes elected members such as
Venezuela, Cuba, Burundi, China, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—countries
that have been called out for their continual human rights violations and
abuses.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-standing-human-rights-u-n/
July 9: For the first 18 months, Donald
Trump’s administration has systematically deprioritised human rights — driven
largely by the president’s disinterest, ‘America first’ transactionalism, and
‘pattern of appreciation for strongman-type leaders’.1
This is a major departure from previous presidencies, both Republican and
Democrat. Since President Carter, human rights and democracy promotion have been
a constant, if selectively pursued, part of US foreign policy. Successive
administrations have weighed human rights concerns among US national interests
and stressed that the United States has a role to play in human rights and
democracy promotion globally.
Trump’s national security cabinet has paid scant attention to human rights
(apart from US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley’s rhetorical focus)
and elevated the promotion of immediate economic and security interests over
civil and political freedoms.2
When human rights have been considered, they have generally been viewed
instrumentally, to serve a short-term security purpose. The administration has
also recently withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council, citing its failure to
reform and anti-Israel resolutions.3
As the Trump White House has pulled back from human rights promotion — and
multilateral engagement — China, Russia and other states have grown more
assertive in challenging human rights and democratic norms at home, globally and
multilaterally.4
https://www.ussc.edu.au/analysis/human-rights-and-the-trump-administration
December 11: Trump Is Failing on Human
Rights
It is time to restore truth and moral clarity in the White House
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/trump-failing-human-rights-38437
-- 2019 --
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February 19: Trump administration launches
global effort to end criminalization of homosexuality
The administration is responding in part to a reported hanging of a young gay
man in Iran, Trump’s top geopolitical foe.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-launches-global-effort-end-criminalization-homosexuality-n973081
February 21: Trump-Kim Summit Seen Unlikely
to Touch on Human Rights
https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-kim-summit-seen-unlikely-to-touch-on-human-rights/4797683.html
February 28: Trump Smiling With Kim Jong Un
on the World Stage Shows His Disdain for Human Rights
What a reversal from the beginning of the Trump Administration, when Trump got
in front of the U.S. Congress and pronounced his
commitment to ensure freedom for the North Korean people. He did the same in
front of the
National Assembly in Seoul. Both instances took place before Trump and Kim “fell
in love.” Time and time again, Trump continues to laud and relish his
personal chemistry with Kim at the expense of spotlighting relentless and grave
human rights violations. In Hanoi, he even took Kim’s words at face value
concerning the death of the American citizen, Otto Warmbier.
Despite opening up to the outside world to discuss denuclearization and economic
cooperation, North Korea has yet to show solid evidence of any improvements in
its dire human rights record. There is no sign that grave and systematic human
rights violations such as arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment,
enforced disappearances, are ending in the country. Some of these may amount to
crimes against humanity. Judge Thomas Buergenthal, a co-author of a 2017
report from the International Bar Association War Crimes Committee, survived
Auschwitz and said North Korea’s labor camps are
as bad as those run by the Nazis.
http://time.com/5541216/trump-kim-human-rights-north-korea/
March 5: President Trump Raises Otto
Warmbier Human Rights Case in Hanoi
At a press conference following the ill-fated summit in Hanoi last week,
President Donald Trump was asked whether the case of U.S. student Otto Warmbier
was discussed with North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un. Warmbier was returned to his
parents in June 2017 after having been imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months.
He returned in a condition that medical professionals called “unresponsive
wakefulness,” and he died a few days later. The president said he had raised the
issue:
[Trump]: And I did speak about it, but I don’t believe he [Kim Jong-un] would
have allowed that to happen. It just wasn’t to his advantage to allow that to
happen.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/president-trump-raises-otto-warmbier-human-rights-case-hanoi
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March 6: President Trump Revokes Reporting
Requirement on Lethal Strikes
The revoked provision in Executive Order 13732 on civilian casualties required
an annual report on the total number of strikes by all United States government
entities, not just the military, outside areas of active hostilities as well as
the number of civilian and combatant deaths caused by those
strikes. Congressionally-mandated reporting is limited to the assessed number of
civilian casualties resulting from military operations.
https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/press-release/president-trump-revokes-reporting-requirement-lethal-strikes
March 13: The State Department acknowledges
Saudi Arabia’s killing of U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in its annual human
rights report but makes no mention of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in
the section on his death. That’s despite reports that
the CIA determined the Saudi leader ordered Khashoggi’s assassination.
The Trump administration has long resisted implicating the crown prince in the
murder, citing what it says is insufficient evidence.
Trump said in November that he stood with Saudi Arabia because spoiling
relations
could negatively impact oil prices, the U.S.′ plan to counter Iran in the
Middle East and a promise to buy U.S.-made arms. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
however,
told CNBC in January that oil prices would not affect America’s response to
the Khashoggi killing.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/13/state-department-calls-jamal-khashoggis-death-human-rights-violation.html
March 14: Tribunal Declares Trump and
Duterte Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his government committed war crimes and
crimes against humanity, aided and abetted by U.S. President Donald Trump and
his administration, according to a recent ruling from the International Peoples’
Tribunal on the Philippines.
The tribunal, which was held in Brussels, Belgium, on September 18 and 19, 2018,
rendered its
84-page decision on these crimes on March 8. Conveners of the tribunal
included the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, European
Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, Haldane Society of
Socialist Lawyers, IBON International, and the International Coalition for Human
Rights in the Philippines. A panel of eight jurors from Egypt, France, Italy,
Malaysia, the Netherlands and the United States heard testimony from 31
witnesses...
https://truthout.org/articles/tribunal-declares-trump-and-duterte-guilty-of-crimes-against-humanity/
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March 17: Trump Administration Omitted
Women's Reproductive Rights from the Annual Human Rights Report
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/17/1842847/-Trump-Administration-Omitted-Women-s-Reproductive-Rights-from-the-Annual-Human-Rights-Report?
March 18: Trump administration ignoring
human rights monitors, ACLU tells UN
The
Trump administration is coming under fire for its refusal to engage with
international human rights monitors over potential violations inside the US,
from police brutality and executions to the abuse of migrant children at the
border.
Protests have poured in from organisations objecting to the government’s virtual
boycott of established systems designed to protect human rights, after the US
withdrew from the United Nations human rights council last year. Washington
is accused of rebuffing official complaints from monitors, undermining human
rights bodies and threatening officials with prosecution should they step foot
on US soil.
The latest condemnation has come from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),
which has delivered a scathing appraisal to the Human Rights Council (HRC) in
Geneva. The ACLU charged that over the past year “the Trump administration has
escalated its hostility towards human rights bodies including the apparent
severing of relationships with independent experts appointed to monitor and
report on human rights violations”.
The ACLU statement, submitted by director of human rights Jamil Dakwar, noted
that under Trump the US has not extended a single invitation to UN experts to
visit the country as part of routine oversight. It notes that the UN expert on
the human rights of migrants has asked repeatedly to be allowed to visit the
US-Mexican border, given the serious deterioration of treatment of undocumented
migrants, to no avail.
In January, the Guardian
revealed that the US government had ceased to cooperate with tried and
tested international procedures, in a move which threatened the nation’s
standing as a beacon of good practice on the world stage. At that point, the
state department had failed to respond to 13 complaints by UN monitors raising
fundamental questions about America’s commitment to international law.
The number of unanswered requests from the UN’s so-called “special rapporteurs”
has risen to 22. The last such demand that received a reply from any Trump
official was in May last year.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/mar/18/trump-administration-ignoring-human-rights-monitors-aclu
-- 2020 --
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