Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- The DPRK Institute of International
Studies on Wednesday released a "white paper on human rights situation
in the U.S. in 2016".
The following is the full text of the white paper:
Styling itself an "international human rights judge," the U.S., the
most heinous criminal state against humanity, resorts to arbitrary
intervention in the internal affairs of other countries, picking a
quarrel with their human rights situations.
What are the standards of human rights the U.S. is applying?
Based on the Yankee values, the fundamentals of which are extreme
egoism, mammonism and misanthropy, they are geared to serving the
interests of a handful of the privileged class; they have nothing to do
with the dignity of the absolute majority of the working people.
That the U.S. is turning white into black in its approach to the
"human rights" situations in other countries while leaving in the dark
its own human rights situation, which evokes indignation from the world,
is a deliberate distortion of genuine human rights and an unpardonable
challenge to international justice and conscience.
In order to disclose the pitiable human rights situation in the
U.S., where all sorts of injustice, rightlessness and social evils cut a
wide swathe, through the human rights violations committed in the
country last year, the Institute of International Studies of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea publishes this White Paper.
1. The Anti-Popular Nature of the U.S. Political System Seen through Elections
2016 was a year of presidential election in the U.S.
Election is, in general, a process whereby members of a social
community choose persons who can represent their opinions and interests.
The standard by which fairness of an election is judged is the support
of the widest range of the social community.
Paragraph 3 of Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights stipulates, "The will of the people shall be the basis of the
authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and
genuine elections…."
However, what is decisive in the elections in the U.S. is not the
political knowledge or capabilities of candidates, but it is money. If
one has money, he or she can become an influential man and win "mass
support" even though he or she is good-for-nothing.
This is why presidential candidates, irrespective of the ticket he
is running with, waste no energy and time in gathering funds by all
means, and billionaires, in their turn, pour their money to have their
spokesmen in the Oval Office.
In 2016 WikiLeaks made public over 19 000 e-mails between the major
figures in the National Committee of the Democratic Party, exposing the
inside story of fundraising by the Democrats.
An e-mail they sent to an influential supporter in Tennessee
proposed that if he made an additional donation of USD 33 400, he may be
invited to a party hosted by the president. It was also disclosed that
the supporters who had donated USD 467 600~1 250 000 in the period after
January 2015 were granted various privileges including checking into a
deluxe hotel in Philadelphia, where the Democratic convention was to be
held. Such evil practices were not confined to the Democrats.
As a result, the U.S. presidential election in 2016 was recorded as squandering the largest sum of money in history.
According to the statistical data, about USD 5 billion was consumed
in the presidential election in 2008 and USD 6 billion in 2012, whereas
in the last presidential election it amounted to USD 10 billion.
Advertisement for the presidential candidates cost USD 4.4 billion, and
the earnings by websites, radio stations and newspapers for political
advertisement amounted to USD 1.2 billion, USD 916 million and USD 882
million, respectively.
Irrespective of who he or she is, a politician thus bought by
billionaires has to frame "laws" and execute policies in favor of the
powerful supporters.
Former President Jimmy Carter lamented, saying: An unlimited range
of bribe has become an important factor in the nomination of a
presidential candidate and his or her election; the U.S. political
system has already been reduced to an instrument for making compensation
to the major political supporters.
This is illustrated by the fact that the turnout for the last
presidential and general elections was 60% and 30~40%, respectively.
According to a joint opinion poll by The New York Times and NBC, 85%
of the voters expressed their dissatisfaction with the U.S. election
system last year.
People from various social strata staged demonstrations in 30-odd
cities including Washington DC in protest against the money-centered
political system.
In April last year members of the Spring of Democracy held a march
on foot for 240km, from Philadelphia to Washington DC, shouting slogans
as "Don't buy our future with money!" and "No money for politics!" They
demanded putting an end to the rotten election system and effecting a
free and fair election.
The election in the U.S., in which an astronomical sum of money is
squandered for the presidential office when the majority of the people
are living in dire poverty, has no relations whatsoever with the
interests and opinions of the "people," which the ruling classes are
wont to refer to.
This is just a concentrated expression of the nature of the U.S.
political system against the people, against human rights, the system
that exists only for the sake of the political careerists and privileged
classes.
It is too clear that this political system is incapable of ensuring
elementary rights to life and existence for the working masses, let
alone their dignity and political rights due to social beings.
2. A Human Rights Desert Where Even Elementary Human Rights Are Not Provided
American Dream, this is what frequently trips off the tongue of the
U.S. politicians when they are soliciting votes or making speech. This
word, which first appeared in American Epic written by Adams in 1931,
means that if everyone works to the best of one's ability one can buy
one's own flat and car, give education to one's children and live better
than the preceding generation.
The present realities in the U.S. present a quite different picture.
The working people, who account for the absolute majority of the
population, are deprived of the elementary rights to existence like
food, clothes, housing, working, medical treatment and learning and the
economic and social rights, let alone the dream for the future, and are
living in the abyss of nightmare.
Paragraph 1 of Article 6, paragraph 2 of Article 12 and paragraph 1
of Article 13 of Part III of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights stipulate the right of everyone to the
opportunity to gain his living by work, the right to creation of
conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical
attention in the event of sickness and the right of everyone to
education.
In the U.S., in one week of December 2016, 275 000 persons joined
the chronic contingent of the unemployed numbering 7.9 million; 18.8% of
the total number of the unemployed was young people.
The number of persons without shelter exceeded 560 000, and 322 000
persons in 17 northern counties in Florida are maintaining a bare
existence with the help of "charitable organizations."
According to the statistics made public by economists jointly in the
end of 2016, the average annual income of the wealthy people accounting
for 1% of the total population was 81 times that of those under the
middle class, a considerable increase from 27 times 36 years ago.
Deprived of their right to learning, young people have lost hope for
the future, and the degenerated ones are turning to crime.
Over the past 25 years, school expenses skyrocketed to 440%. One
academic year in a public university costs USD 10 000, whereas it is USD
50 000 for a private university; universities, which give education in
medicine and other disciplines that require time and effort, demand USD
500 000.
About 6 million young people less than 24 years old do not think
about going to school and 1.2 million high-school students give up
further studies every year because of the exorbitant school expenses.
Even middle-class Americans, three out of four, owe debts to give
education to their children, which they fail to clear off until the
children enter university.
Russian newspaper Pravda exposed the astonishing fact that the debts
owed by university students in the U.S. amount to USD 1.3 trillion.
The skyrocketing school expenses have become another major factor in
the aggravated social evil of the rich getting richer and the poor
getting poorer.
42% of the people born into destitute families accounting for 20% of
the total number of families in the U.S. fail to free themselves from
destitution even after they have become adults.
The situation of medical service in the U.S. is a graphic testimony to the system's anti-human nature.
It costs USD 500 to have a tooth pulled out, tens of thousands of
dollars for appendectomy, USD 1 000 for a day in hospital for first aid,
and USD 100 000~200 000 for an operation on the emergency case in the
first-aid room.
The "health insurance" has become a legal tool for emptying the people's purses.
According to The New York Times dated July 22, 2016, a swindler
organization in Florida has squeezed USD 1 billion from two major health
insurance companies over the past 14 years; it was the largest-ever
fraud in history.
The funds drained by health insurance fraud from the year 2009
already exceeded USD 29.9 billion, and the Department of Justice made
public that from the end of June 2016 management personnel of medical
organs and doctors numbering 301 were prosecuted on suspicion of health
insurance fraud.
Pessimism and despair of the future lead to all sorts of social
evils--degeneration and crime--and the easiest victims are women and
children.
Though it frequently calls for "equality for all," the U.S. has yet
to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women.
Though women occupy 57% of the workforce, their salary is 81% of
that of their male counterparts, and it is 69% and 58% for the
Afro-American and Hispanic women.
About 6 million women fall victim to violent crimes every year.
Sexual crimes number over 500 000 on average every year, more than 2
million women experience violation in their families, and about 20% of
women fall prey to rape.
23% of the girl university students suffer sexual violation. Sexual
violation against women is rampant in the armed forces, and about 60 000
women are subjected to sexual harassment and violation in prison every
year.
A UN human rights specialist disclosed in January this year that the
mortality rate of the women of ethnic minorities and black women during
delivery to children was 77%, or four times that of white women.
Human trafficking openly committed in the U.S. is beyond human imagination.
A UPI dispatch disclosed that the cases of human trafficking in 2016
increased by 35.7% compared to the previous year. According to the
report, California took the first place with 1 323 cases, followed by
Texas, 670, and then Florida, 550.
Polaris, a human trafficking watchdog, defined human trafficking as a
"contemporary form of slavery in which traffickers forced the victims
into commercial sex-service or labor against their will by violent,
deceptive or coercive means". This shows the true picture of the corrupt
U.S. society.
In the 7 572 cases of human trafficking confirmed last year, women
victims numbered 6 340 and minors several thousands. This illustrates
the plight of women and minors.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates the
international obligation to the provision of the right of the child to
rest, to be protected from performing any work and to be protected from
sexual exploitation and abuse. The U.S. has not ratified this
convention.
The number of children living in hunger and poverty is 16 million,
and child abuse is lawful in 19 states. About 80% of the children who
died of maltreatment were less than four years old. Juvenile labor is
lawful in the U.S., and about 800 000 children are forced to labor.
The U.S. is the only country in the world, which imposes life
imprisonment upon children without anyone to support them and in which 5
000 of the 50 000 juvenile inmates are in the prisons for adults.
Sexual crimes against minors are widely prevalent, and 100 000 are victims of human trafficking.
In June last year CNN reported astonishing news: a man in
Pennsylvania, named Kaplan, had been detaining over 10 children, ranging
from a six-month-old baby to a teenage girl, and among them were two
children born of a girl, whom he had taken in custody and raped four
years ago when she was 14 years old.
These show that the U.S. is the biggest graveyard of human rights, a
living hell where the working masses cannot enjoy the elementary rights
to survival, much less entertain a hope for the future.
3. The Largest Murderous Country in the World Rife with Gun-related Crimes
The right to life is the most basic and precious of all the rights of human being.
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates,
"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person."
And paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights points out, "Every human being has the inherent right
to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be
arbitrarily deprived of his or her life."
In American society, gun-related violence that disregards and stamps
out man's right to life has become an inherent "culture." The following
provide a glimpse of the "culture."
In the U.S. anyone can obtain a rifle and carry it everywhere. 98%
of Americans live in a 15-km radius around rifle shops. Nationwide, such
shops total 23 000 and their annual sales top 200 000 pieces. Prices of
various guns range from USD 200 to USD 1 000. They include flame
throwers worth USD 1 600 each. Private guns add up to 357 million.
According to the recent statistics for a given state issued by
Boston University, 1% increase in the rate of gun owners leads to more
than 0.9% rise in the murder rate.
As for the heinous gun violence that is growing rampant in American
society, a French journalist said after a tour of the U.S.: Foreigners
staying on American soil are often advised never to be angered by
traffic accident. Worldwide, such a reserved manner is considered
cultured. In the U.S., however, this is the way to save your own life.
In particular, 2016 was a blood-soaked year ridden with cases of gun violence.
The first ten days of the year witnessed 120 shootings in Chicago,
Illinois, which was three times as many as the year before and which
killed 19 and injured 101 in all. April and May saw four similar
incidents in a row, which left 14 dead and 78 injured. Over the whole
course of last year 3 500 shootings occurred in this city, killing or
injuring 4 331.
On February 7 there was a spate of shootings in California, Florida,
Mississippi, New York and other states, causing extreme social unrest
and fear. On June 12 a nightclub shooting took place in Orlando,
Florida, killing 50 and injuring 53--one of the most atrocious and
sanguinary shootings in American history. That day saw 160 or so victims
nationwide, which was a record-breaking number.
By the close of the year nine citizens fell victim to shootings in
Washington, Los Angeles and North Carolina. In Chicago, 27 shootings
killed half of the victims on the eve of New Year's Day.
The cancer of gun violence is rapidly spreading through educational institutions.
It is estimated that 100 000 students carry arms to school for
self-defence and a daily average of 160 000 are reluctant to go to
school for fear of being shot or abused.
An unidentified armed criminal broke into a professor's office at
Delta State University, Mississippi, before shooting at the latter's
head. Another in his twenties stormed into a classroom of a university
in Oregon and fired at random on students and their teacher, killing 13
and injuring over 20.
A similar incident in the parking lot of the dormitory at Arizona
State University killed or injured four. Three fell victim to another
firing in the compound of the University of Tennessee and two girls of a
high school in this state were shot dead on the campus, causing it to
close down.
2016 saw a jump in the murder rate in at least 21 cities, as
compared to the previous year, and more than 58 120 cases of gun
violence took place nationwide, claiming 15 039 lives and injuring 30
589.
Gun industries, instead of bearing the responsibility for these victims, are thriving at the cost of their blood.
For example, according to a Spanish newspaper, the profit gained by
Smith & Wesson Co. of the U.S. has increased ten-fold over the past
seven years.
In September 2016 the National Rifle Association expended USD 7.7 million in advertising for the defence of gun ownership.
The privileged elite enjoy unlimited freedom and luxury, raking in
huge profits from gun sales, whereas innocent civilians perish amid wave
of gun-related crimes--this epitomizes violence culture in American
society, a true picture of the worst human rights violator.
4. Institutional Discrimination Aimed at Obliterating Other Races
People are the most precious beings in the world and, as such,
deserve the right to receive social respect. Therefore, they must be on
an equal footing in terms of personality, irrespective of differences in
nationality, race, political view, religious belief, property status
and intellectual level.
Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates
that "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms without
distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth
or other status."
The United States of America was founded as a result of massive
killing of American Indians and destruction of their civilization.
Clinging to the anachronistic racism, it grows more undisguised in its
institutional and traditional discrimination against other peoples.
Under the protection of the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act,
Public Housing Act and other federal laws, diverse racist actions are
encouraged, such as collective imprisonment of people of color and
ethnic minorities, residence isolation, discriminatory education and
deprivation of political rights.
Afro-Americans and other ethnic minorities live isolated from their
white counterparts. The racial distribution chart of Washington DC shows
a clear division between blacks in the east and whites in the west.
The Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and
association of the UN Human Rights Council said, after a visit to the
U.S. in July 2016, that black and other people of color live in
segregated quarters, criticizing that racial discrimination and
persecution in this country have an evil impact on freedom of assembly
and association.
Black people in particular are forced to live in places where health
and environmental indices have reached the danger level.
To cite an example, tap water for public use usually contains lead
and copper. In many areas, which are mostly inhabited by black citizens,
the content of lead exceeds the tolerance limit by 400 times. The
authorities of Flint, Michigan, postponed the replacement of rusting
pipes allegedly for financial reasons, compelling the citizens to
consume water containing rust and lead for over one year and a half. It
turned out that many were suffering from lead poisoning.
According to a report by the expert group on African descendents of
the UN Human Rights Council, 40.4% of the homeless are Afro-Americans
and their unemployment rate is double that of the whites. And as for the
same offences, the imprisonment rate of black men is 5.9 times higher
than that of white men and the rate of black women, 2.1 times higher
than white women.
Worse still, an increasing number of Afro-Americans are being shot
dead by white policemen. The targets in the vast majority of police
shootings are innocent black people.
The Washington Post, dated April 3, 2016, said that most of the 256
people who fell victim to police shootings in the first three months of
that year were black.
On July 5, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, policemen fired bullets
through the chest and back of an unarmed Afro-American called Alton
Sterling. The following day a policeman in St. Paul opened fire on a
young black man named Castel sitting in his car, for no grounds. Black
men were shot to death in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 20 and
in front of a shop in the suburbs of San Diego, California, on the 27th
of the same month.
Black people are in constant fear of being shot by white policemen.
In the black communities a "family custom" prevails of parents warning
their sons at adolescence against offending police: Now that you are
grown up, cops may target you; you must never answer back, resist or
misbehave.
Even Eric Holder, Attorney General in the Obama administration,
confessed that he had cautioned his black sons in a similar vein.
Killing and collective imprisonment of Afro-Americans by police are
typical examples of a modern version of racial discrimination.
In the U.S. half of the youngsters of African origin presume that they will not pass 35.
The deplorable situation of racial discrimination in the U.S. is
evidenced by the fact that one in three black citizens has been
convicted previously.
That's why Obama admitted during his July 8 visit to Poland that in
his country twice as many blacks as whites fall victim to police
shootings.
The point is that the U.S. authorities are conniving at and
encouraging race-hunting and racial discrimination. The Washington Post
stated that over the past two decades 26 of 28 FBI investigators had
spoken in favor of police in dealing with cases of black victims of
shooting and 95% of the 268 trials reviewed were unfair.
The chief of the Expert Group on African Descendents of the UN Human
Rights Council, in a statement in early July 2016, described the
killing of Afro-Americans by police as a reflection of institutional
racism.
Racial discrimination is not confined to Afro-Americans. The illegal
immigrants of Latin American origin, numbering 11 million to 12
million, are now called newly-emerging slaves. They mostly live
hand-to-mouth in the southern states, tilling the land or doing other
backbreaking jobs which whites are loath to do. It is obvious that in
the near future they will suffer the same fate as Afro-Americans.
The ramifications of racial discrimination are causing dismay and apprehension in the U.S. itself.
According to a joint opinion poll in July 2016 by The New York Times
and CBS, 69% of Americans expressed indignation over the rapidly
spreading racial discrimination in their country, a hike from 38% in
2015.
Extreme national chauvinism and racial discrimination, which are
against the mainstream of the present era of independence, will lead the
U.S. to division and ruin.
The above-mentioned violations of human rights in the U.S. are the
tip of the iceberg, and they are by no means accidents that were
witnessed in 2016 alone.
These criminal offenses, which run counter to human dignity and
intelligence, are the inevitable outcome of the American-style democracy
and the U.S. social system based on the law of the jungle and extreme
individualism.
The U.S. is loud in its advocacy of "universal respect for human
rights," publishing "annual reports" that deal with the human rights
situations in other countries. However, it can never cover up nor negate
its own human rights situation that has been the subject of
international criticism and condemnation.
The justice-loving peoples the world over must raise their voices
against the deceptive schemes pursued by the U.S., seeing through its
real identity as the planet's bleakest desert and the worst violator of
human rights. -0
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