US criticised by UN for human rights failings on NSA, guns and drones !

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The US came under sharp criticism at the UN human rights committee in Geneva on Thursday for a long list of human rights abuses that included everything from detention without charge at Guantánamo, drone strikes and NSA surveillance, to the death penalty, rampant gun violence and endemic racial inequality.

At the start of a two-day grilling of the US delegation, the committee’s 18 experts made clear their deep concerns about the US record across a raft of human rights issues. Many related to faultlines as old as America itself, such as guns and race.

Other issues were relative newcomers. The experts raised questions about the National Security Agency’s surveillance of digital communications in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations. It also intervened in this week’s dispute between the CIA and US senators by calling for declassification and release of the 6,300-page report into the Bush administration’s use of torture techniques and rendition that lay behind the current CIA-Senate dispute.

thank you for posting this info.. I did not understand some of it but i am going to look into it!

reply to post by blaenau2000


I'm sure that the U.S representatives in the UN were thinking they were immune to criticism from their fellow members, And surely there will be a rebuttal of some kind blaming fellow countries of atrocities to divert attention.

If they can easily bring other nations ethics in question then they can sure as hell be questioned themselves.

blaenau2000
Link

The US came under sharp criticism at the UN human rights committee in Geneva on Thursday for a long list of human rights abuses that included everything from detention without charge at Guantánamo, drone strikes and NSA surveillance, to the death penalty, rampant gun violence and endemic racial inequality.

At the start of a two-day grilling of the US delegation, the committee’s 18 experts made clear their deep concerns about the US record across a raft of human rights issues. Many related to faultlines as old as America itself, such as guns and race.

Other issues were relative newcomers. The experts raised questions about the National Security Agency’s surveillance of digital communications in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations. It also intervened in this week’s dispute between the CIA and US senators by calling for declassification and release of the 6,300-page report into the Bush administration’s use of torture techniques and rendition that lay behind the current CIA-Senate dispute.

“This world is an unsafe place,” Kälin said. “Will it not become even more dangerous if any state would be willing to claim that international law does not prevent them from committing human rights violations abroad?”

Kälin went on to express astonishment at some of America’s more extreme domestic habits. He pointed to the release this week in Louisiana of Glenn Ford, the 144th person on death row in the US to be exonerated since 1973, saying: “One hundred and forty-four cases of people wrongfully convicted to death is a staggering number.”

Pointing out the disproportional representation of African Americans on death rows, he added: “Discrimination is bad, but it is absolutely unacceptable when it leads to death.”

I can sum all that up in a sentence. "Waaah wwaah wwaah... Its nust not fair waah waaah waaah!"

Anyway how are those Chinese and Iranians doing? what about the north koreans? or the russians currently? Point is there willl always be a nitpicker somewhere. The worlds not fair get over yourselves.

Oh you know what, f*ck the UN. I used to believe that the UN did some good somewhere. What have they done lately? No country is perfect. It seems that they just want to make laws and expect everyone to jump. Yeah, right. By what authority do they impose their laws on us? I know we helped create that monstrosity, we even signed their charter. If they make anymore noise, kick them out of America and send them to Russia or Germany or somewhere where they will be tolerated better. We have our problems and last time I checked slavery wasn't one of them. We set the slaves free. So why are they bitching? Oh a black man still can't be president of the US? Oh last time I checked there was King Obama on the throne. So Guantanamo Bay? Well ever been there? If you've never been there then you don't know, so shut up already. Enough said about Guantanamo Bay. Gun violence? This is an internal affair and the UN has no business discussing this. It's not their concern. Anyway.
Troy Lawson