'Cradle of democracy' is an illusion as U.S. ignores human rights

**Editor's note: **Seymur Mammadov is the director of the international expert club EurAsiaAz and editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan's news agency Vzglyad.az. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The United States, posing as the cradle of democracy and an outpost of human rights around the world, is hiding its ugly and scary side.

It is frightening because a country that is massively and grossly violating human rights is trying to establish its own rules, not only within its own borders, but also around the world.

All this is happening in a rude manner, with the use of moral pressure, military intervention and violence. The largest power on Earth, holding in its hand almost all the threads of the ongoing processes in the world, has leverage over its competitors. At the same time, the United States do not take into account the interests and laws of countries in whose affairs it is grossly interfering under the pretext of human rights.

The most striking example of "American human rights" is the war in the Middle East, which has been raging for over two decades. As a result of the demagogy and permissiveness of a world power, the rights of millions of people across the region are being grossly and in many cases irreparably violated to please Washington, which pursues its own interests there. So, in Yemen, 850,000 children have died of starvation and disease as a result of the war unleashed at the initiative of the United States.

The U.S. accuses any country that refuses "to curtsy" before the West of violating human rights – Russia, China, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Belarus, the DPRK, Iran and other countries. In fact, there is nowhere on the planet where the "cradle of democracy" does not interfere.

Last year, the U.S. State Department published a report on the human rights situation in the world, ignoring the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states and subjecting them to fierce criticism. In the report, all political opponents of the United States were criticized, but the State Department modestly remained silent about the human rights situation in the United States.

A homeless person reads a book on a street while panhandling during freezing temperatures on 5th Avenue in New York City, February 16, 2018. /VCG

In order to reveal the gross violations taking place on U.S. soil, the Information Office of the State Council of China began to publish a report focused on human rights violations in America.

It is clear that the Chinese took on such work in response to U.S. action. China is a country that respects international law and the right of every country to sovereign domestic policy, including the law of the United States, but it would be unfair if the global community had the opportunity to get acquainted only with American propaganda and not know anything about what is happening in the United States itself.

According to the report, 998 people were killed by police in the United States in 2018.

The numbers, it must be said, are very serious. Unlike the State Department's report, the materials of China's State Council represent concrete facts from authoritative American sources.

Here are just a few examples.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, between 1976 and 2018, 290 African Americans were sentenced to death for killing white people, while the same punishment for killing black people was applied to only 20 white people.

The year 2018 saw a sharp increase in Islamophobia in the U.S. This slogan was actively used by candidates in the midterm elections to the U.S. Congress, demanding that Muslims be denied basic rights. In 2018, the number of anti-Muslim incidents increased by 17 percent, and hate crime increased by 15 percent compared to 2017.

Let's go further. The number of hate crimes in the ten largest U.S. cities over the past four years has grown to the highest level in a decade. Racial crimes accounted for nearly 60 percent of total crimes.

The U.S. is the only country in the world where there is a law on stripping indigenous population of their right to vote. Since 2010, 23 states have passed such laws, in particular, 17 states have laws on the suppression of votes of Native Americans and other indigenous people, which is the purest manifestation of racism.

Many probably remember the scandal that erupted around the criminal policy of "zero tolerance for immigrants" announced by U.S. authorities a couple of years ago. As a result, 2,500 children were separated from their migrant parents.

Interesting figures for the "cradle of democracy," no?

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