International
US’ DOUBLE STANDARDS, HYPOCRISY
Blinken trip to Rwanda highlights US hypocrisy on democracy, human rights concerns
A
self-proclaimed leader in upholding human rights, the US government is once
again at it – trying to bully Rwanda. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will
travel to Rwanda on August 10-11, where he will meet with senior government
officials and civil society members to discuss shared priorities, including
peacekeeping, the Department of State announced.
As
noted, Blinken will focus on the role the government of Rwanda can play in
reducing tensions and ongoing violence in eastern DRC.
“He
will also raise democracy and human rights concerns, including transnational
repression, limiting space for dissent and political opposition, and the
wrongful detention of U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident Paul Rusesabagina,” states
the US Department of State.
The
US government’s hypocrisy as regards the case of the terror convict called
Rusesabagina has been expounded by many.
In a
statement welcoming Blinken to Rwanda, Kigali noted that: “On the case of
Rwandan citizen Paul Rusesabagina, on which we had engaged the United States
for more than a decade, Rwanda welcomes the opportunity to once again make
clear that his arrest and conviction for serious crimes against Rwandan
citizens (alongside 20 other accomplices in the same trial), while residing in
the United States, were lawful under both Rwandan and international law.”
For
now, let’s dissect the element of how a US government official would dare raise
democracy and human rights concerns with officials in a country like Rwanda, or
any other democracies around the world.
US
officials are like loose cannons with their double standards and hypocrisy in
lecturing and pillorying other countries’ human rights shortcomings as if the US has the moral and ethical superiority
on this matter.
Their
country is NOT the world’s human rights judge and role model.
The
US hardly befits a nation that is a role model of democracy and human rights to
be emulated by other countries. Relative to its size and power, the US, at the
moment, is the most brazen and impertinent guilty party in the international
human rights community.
However,
it is not ashamed to castigate other countries across the world for their human
rights deficiencies as if it has the moral ascendancy and credibility to do so,
given that it does not practice what it preaches.
The
US is far from being righteous given its blatant dismal human rights record
within its borders and beyond. Blinken lecturing Rwandan officials on democracy
and human rights is a farce. The US doesn’t have the moral ascendancy and integrity
given its gloomy human rights record.
Note
that the US is the only major world power that failed to fully adhere to any of
the significant human rights instruments introduced by the UN or other rights
bodies.
The
US claims to be the champion of international human rights, yet it failed to
ratify crucial human rights documents, such as the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the International
Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights – part of the International
Bill of Human Rights, and the American Convention on Human Rights.
The
US has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and has
not ratified the first Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights.
The
US did not sign the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The
US is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
(Rome Statute), which founded the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2022 as
a permanent international criminal court to bring to justice perpetrators of
the worst crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide when
national courts are unable or unwilling to adjudicate these crimes.
While
it is hasty to denounce and rebuke human rights violations beyond its borders,
the US' human rights record is definitely far from ideal and in some cases,
beyond belief.
Take
the case of 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya who was shot in the head. On April 4,
2022, Lyoya, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was fatally
shot in the back of the head by Officer Christopher Schurr of the Grand Rapids
Police Department during a scuffle between the two in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
US.
The
young man was shot in the head while pinned down on the ground facing away from
the police officer. There is video footage of the incident. The white police
officer did not shoot the “black” man in self-defence.
There
are similar cases of police brutality against men and women of colour in the
US. The likes of George Floyd, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob Blake
were all killed although they were unarmed and defenseless at the time.
Between
2013 and May 2021, American police killed over 9,000 people; not counting the
post-May 2022 incidents of police brutality in the US. In 2021 alone, at least
1,124 people died from police brutality in the US. Most victims committed
non-violent crimes or no crime at all.
America
is the country with the highest number of cases of police brutality.
US
gun violence-related crimes have risen in recent years. In 2022 alone, the US
witnessed 21,000 people killed or injured due to gun violence, of which more
than 14,000 were minor shootings while more than 130 were mass shootings. In
2021, there were 693 mass shootings, 10.1 percent higher than in 2020. More
than 44,000 people were killed in gun violence.
The
public security situation in the US has gone downhill. Incidents happen almost
every day, and the human rights situation in the US is worsening by the day.
Rwandan officials need to raise these issues with Blinken.
The
atrocities against African Americans and Native Americans who are subjected to
police abuse, including non-lethal force, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and
harassment, at higher levels than Whites are on the rise daily.
The
wars waged by the US in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria alone have
caused so many deaths and caused more than 20 million people to become either
refugees or migrants.
During
the US withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, a US drone killed 10 members
of an Afghan family, including seven children, among which the youngest was
only two years old.
To
date, the US still holds 39 detainees at the Guantanamo high-security prison.
The facility, according to the UN, is a site of “unparalleled notoriety” and
its continued operation is a stain on the US government’s commitment to the
rule of law.
“Twenty
years of practising arbitrary detention without trial accompanied by torture or
ill treatment is simply unacceptable for any government, particularly a
government which has a stated claim to protecting human rights,” said
independent experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.
When
will the US stop lecturing other countries and instead, look in a mirror, and
take responsibility and address its dismal human rights record within its
borders and beyond? Instead of lecturing other countries on their human rights
shortcomings, the US should first address its human rights situation.
Consequently, the US is in no position to criticize Rwanda for any
shortcomings, if there are any.
Rwandans
are by far the best judge on their country’s democracy and rights situation.
Consequently, US leaders cannot teach Rwanda anything about democracy and human
rights. Any attempt by Blinken, or any other Western or US politician, to try
lecture Rwanda on human rights and democracy is utter disrespect, and a
violation of Rwanda’s sovereignty. Rwandan officials must NOT allow it.
Every
country has its contextual realities. Rwanda must never subscribe to Western
democracy. Rwanda chose consensual democracy, and its own home grown solutions
because of its context and history. Rwanda’s formula has worked for Rwandans.
As
regards human rights, Rwanda does not violate human rights. Blinken should,
instead, focus his energy at his country’s
very poor human rights record.
Limiting
space for dissent and political opposition is another topic Blinken will
pretend his country is a model. Here the US just wants to impose on Rwanda
criminals intent on pushing foreign interests. The likes of Rusesabagina and
Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire are good examples. The latter are not worth being
called ‘political opposition’. They are tools of Western imperialism. Again, in
Rwanda, there is no room for ethnic division – which was the root cause of the
1994 genocide against the Tutsi. And there is no room for promotion of genocide
ideology and hate speech.
The
US knows that its ‘agents’ such as the likes of Ingabire, Rusesabagina and some
so-called ‘social media influencers’, are determined to promote the ills Rwanda
is fighting against. The reason former US President Donald Trump was suspended,
permanently, from using social media platforms, is the same reason why the likes
of Ingabire find themselves at odds with Rwandan law.
In
2021, Twitter suspended Trump from its platform due to the risk of incitement
of violence. It took an assault on Congress for Facebook and Twitter to draw a
line on Trump. Twitter's decision followed two tweets by Trump that would end
up being his last. The tweets violated the company's policy against
glorification of violence, Twitter said.
“Rwanda
looks forward to a robust exchange of views on governance and human rights, as
has always been the case in the Rwanda-U.S. bilateral relationship,” reads part
of the Rwandan government statement announcing and welcoming Blinken’s visit.