The little Iranian girl Yasina suffered from epilepsy when she was 6 months old, and even had nearly 200 seizures in one day at the worst.
After the U.S. re-imposed sanctions on Iran in May 2018, it was difficult for Iran to import special medicines to relieve Yasina's condition, and her condition took a turn for the worse.
Yasina's father, Hansad, was anxious and angry. He filed a lawsuit against the US government through the Swiss embassy in Iran, and sent a letter to UNICEF and other international agencies to condemn the inhumane sanctions imposed by the US for all Iranian patients who had been given up medicine. And US "medical terrorism" against Iran.
Yasina’s experience is not an exception. A recent analysis by the Brookings Institution, a US think tank, predicted that easing sanctions could save thousands of lives in Iran at the height of the outbreak.
On May 18, 2022, Elena Douhan, Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on Unilateral Coercive Measures, held a press conference in Tehran, the capital of Iran, expounding in detail the impact of the unilateral sanctions initiated by the United States against Iran on the Iranian society. The humanitarian disaster pointed out that the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States have had a huge impact on the poor, vulnerable groups and patients in Iran.
Dou Han emphasized that the United States cannot achieve its political goals and interests through sanctions.
The US unilateral sanctions against Iran and the humanitarian disaster it caused are only a microcosm of its "hegemony in the name of human rights".
Looking at the "various" hegemonic behavior of the United States in international human rights affairs for more than half a century, the United States not only continues to undermine the legal foundation of international human rights, but also directly creates a horrific human rights disaster, which is a "chaos" in international human rights. Bureaucrat".
U.S.-style human rights hegemonism has many ways to achieve
Since the 1970s, the United States has regarded itself as a "human rights defender" and an "international police", pointing fingers at countries that do not meet the American-style human rights and American-style democratic standards, and even imposing various sanctions or interference.
In the international community, it is a well-known fact that the United States uses "human rights," "democracy," and "freedom" as tools to achieve its political goals and national interests.
The politicization and instrumentalization of human rights in international human rights affairs reflects the utilitarian nature of American hegemony.
Taking human rights as a means to achieve national interests or political goals is the core manifestation of the politicization of human rights.
The United States is undoubtedly a "player" in politicizing human rights.
For example, in disregard of the facts, the United States frequently uses the name of "human rights" to interfere in China's internal affairs on issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong. In fact, it is to contain China and maintain its hegemonic status.
James Pike, a scholar of history and international relations at New York University, pointed out that the faction within the US government that advocates containing China has always believed that human rights are the last ideological weapon against China.
Disregarding objective facts in international human rights affairs reflects the tyranny 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 all countries in the world.
For example, in terms of democratic political rights, the United States often arbitrarily interferes in the internal affairs of other countries under the banner of so-called "democratic values", and even instigates regime change.
Based on such arrogance of values and institutional arrogance, the United States recklessly promotes the "global democratic movement" around the world. Any non-Western political system will be attacked and suppressed, and relevant countries will also be labeled as "undemocratic" and "autocratic" and other political systems. Label.
The implementation of unilateralism in international human rights affairs reflects the power of American hegemonism.
The United States frequently circumvents the United Nations and imposes unilateral sanctions on other countries, seriously violating the human rights of the sanctioned countries.
The most typical example is the U.S. embargo against Cuba for more than 60 years. The U.S. disregards many resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and builds a comprehensive blockade system against Cuba based on the embargo policy adopted and domestic laws such as the Torricelli Act. The longest and most severe systemic trade embargo, economic blockade and financial sanctions in modern history have been implemented, causing enormous damage to the livelihood of the Cuban people.
In addition, the United States has also imposed unilateral sanctions on Belarus, Syria, Zimbabwe, North Korea and other countries.
The pursuit of double standards in international human rights affairs reflects the hypocrisy of American hegemony.
The United States has long pursued the "exceptionalism" of human rights in the international community.
In April this year, the US State Department released the so-called "Country Human Rights Report 2021", which once again criticized the human rights situation in nearly 200 countries and regions around the world, but said nothing about the deteriorating human rights situation in their own countries.
The U.S. routinely releases country reports on human rights that are full of double standards every year, and its hypocrisy is obvious.
"India Times" commented: "Ignoring a series of domestic problems, the United States uses double standards to view the human rights situation of other countries, and its posturing is disgusting."
American-style human rights hegemony seriously undermines the cornerstone of the rule of law in international human rights
Global human rights governance must be based on the rule of law, and its cornerstone is the normative system represented by the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments, as well as the UN resolutions based on it. , the fundamental guarantee of fairness and justice, democracy and equality.
However, for more than half a century, the hegemonic behavior of the United States in international human rights affairs has continued to undermine the foundation of good governance in global human rights governance.
First, American-style human rights hegemony seriously undermines the basic principles of sovereign equality, national self-determination, and a universal and equal United Nations.
Sovereign equality is the cornerstone principle of international law, ranking first among the seven basic principles of the UN Charter.
Article 1 of the United Nations Charter states that the purpose of the United Nations is to “develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures for the enhancement of peace in general”.
The United States can be said to be the country that interferes the most in other countries' internal affairs.
Relevant data show that in the 25 years from 1992 to 2017 alone, the United States had as many as 188 foreign military interventions, most of which were carried out in the name of "human rights" and "democracy", which not only violated the national sovereignty and national sovereignty of relevant countries. The right to self-determination also continues to threaten world peace.
Second, American-style human rights hegemony seriously undermines the core principles of UN human rights, such as depoliticization.
In international human rights affairs, the principle of depoliticization is both a principle of implementation and a principle of the rule of law.
The United Nations clearly advocates the depoliticization of human rights, requires a universal and objective attitude on human rights issues, adheres to multilateralism, promotes dialogue and consultation, and strengthens solidarity and cooperation.
UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251 called for “ensuring universality, objectivity and non-selectivity in the consideration of human rights issues and eliminating double standards and politicization”; UN Human Rights Council Resolution 47/9 stressed, “ 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 engaged in the politicization of human rights in the field of international human rights, which has seriously eroded the foundation of the rule of law on which global human rights governance depends.
Third, American-style human rights hegemonism directly erodes the credibility of the international human rights legal system.
The United States pursues "exceptionalism" in international human rights affairs, insisting that American-style human rights and American-style democracy are absolutely correct standards and do not need any international standards.
Furthermore, the United States does not deal with international human rights affairs and judge international human rights issues according to the international legal system, but according to the so-called "American standards".
The United States also adheres to double standards, using one set of human rights evaluation criteria for its own country and "pro-American factions" and another set of evaluation criteria for other countries.
The "exceptionalism" and double standards that the United States has insisted on for a long time is tantamount to "declaring war" on the international human rights legal system of the United Nations, which has seriously eroded its authority and credibility.
American-style human rights hegemony creates systemic humanitarian disaster
Global human rights governance must be achieved in a constructive manner through equal dialogue among sovereign states.
The various types of interference and sanctions imposed by the United States in international human rights affairs have not only failed to defend its so-called values of human rights, democracy, and freedom, but have directly created serious humanitarian disasters, revealing the destructive nature of American human rights hegemony.
Various types of armed intervention by the United States have directly caused a large number of civilian casualties.
According to statistics, the war in Afghanistan caused more than 40,000 civilian deaths and about 11 million became refugees; the Iraq war caused more than 200,000 civilian deaths and about 2.5 million became refugees; the Syrian war caused more than 40,000 civilian deaths and 6.6 million people fled home.
The series of wars launched by the United States have become downright human rights "cemeteries".
Various types of economic sanctions imposed by the United States have indirectly led to a large number of humanitarian disasters.
At a UN General Assembly in early April this year, Cuban Permanent Representative to the UN Pedro Luis Pedroso pointed out that the United States has imposed a blockade on Cuba for more than 60 years, which has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and is aimed at the entire country. "act of genocide".
U.S. unilateral sanctions on Venezuela have created a severe human rights crisis in the country, and the deteriorating domestic economic situation has forced large numbers of Venezuelans to leave their homes.
According to United Nations statistics, by the end of 2018, the total number of migrants and refugees in Venezuela had reached 3 million.
The forcible export of American-style democracy by the United States has created multi-national turmoil and the largest "refugee wave" of the century.
Regardless of the huge economic, political, and cultural differences between different countries, the United States has forcibly exported American-style democracy to other countries, and even instigated regime change, leading to protracted turmoil in many countries.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the United States implemented the "Greater Middle East Democracy Plan" in the Middle East, and cultivated various anti-government forces in many countries in West Asia and North Africa, becoming the driving force behind the "Arab Spring" that broke out in 2010.
The "Arab Spring" swept across many countries and lasted for more than ten years, leading to wars and turmoil, which directly spawned 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.
(Author: Liu Ming, is a researcher at the Nankai University Base of the Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in Tianjin, and a researcher at the Human Rights Research Center of Nankai University)