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Stumbling block to human rights progress
April 03,2023   By:China Daily

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This photo taken on March 21, 2023 shows metal barricades placed near the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

April 3, 2023 -- The State Council Information Office of China issued The Report on Human Rights Violations in the United States in 2022 on Tuesday. The report, with large amounts of facts and data, exposed that human rights violations are ubiquitous in the US.

In the US, a country that labels itself a "human rights defender", "chronic diseases" such as money politics, racial discrimination, gun and police violence, and wealth polarization are rampant. Human rights legislation and justice have seen an extreme retrogression, further undermining the basic rights and freedoms of the US people.

Earlier this month, the US State Department released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, in which it made irresponsible remarks on the human rights situation in nearly 200 countries and regions, but it makes no mention of the serious human rights problems in the US.

The report on human rights violations in the US that China released shows the world that the US' civil rights protection system is seriously failing; the US electoral democracy is increasingly being hollowed out; the racial discrimination and inequality in the country are getting worse; the basic survival crisis of the people at the bottom is worsening; the rights of women and children are regressing historically; the human rights of other countries are being arbitrarily violated and justice is being trampled on. That makes the report a good reference for US politicians to learn more about the human rights problems at home, and their causes.

The polarization of the two parties in the US has led to political paralysis, which seriously damages civil rights. The widening ideological divide and opposition between the Democratic and Republican parties has intensified the ills in US society. The bitter rivalry between the two parties has resulted in a veto regime and a decline in the effectiveness of governance, which has seriously shaken the faith of the US people in the country's democratic system.

But that has not stopped US politicians from stirring up confrontation and disputes around the world under the banner of "democracy "and "human rights" and wantonly trampling on human rights in other countries.

At present, the US is holding the second "Summit for Democracy" in Washington. But its real purpose is to use it as a platform to continue politicizing and weaponizing democracy, promoting bloc politics and serving its hegemonic interests. The international community is increasingly aware that it is the tricks of US politicians, who talk about "democracy" and "human rights" but practice power politics, which makes the US a destroyer of global peace and development and an obstacle to human rights progress.