US tops rivals in list of human righst violators, excludes key allies

Acting US Secretary of State John Sullivan speaks on the release of the 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on April 20, 2018, at the US Department of State in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

In a controversial human rights report, the United States has put its strategic rivals, China and Russia and political adversaries Iran and North Korea on the top of the list of some 200 counties for “violating human rights,” but refused to single out its key allies Saudi Arabia and Israel, which are notorious for having abysmal human rights records.

Releasing the State Department's global human rights report for 2017, acting Secretary of State John Sullivan labeled Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang as "morally reprehensible" governments who "violate the human rights of those within their borders on a daily basis and are forces of instability as a result."

Iran on Saturday rejected the "spiteful and politically-motivated" report; saying it portrayed a "distorted and unreal" picture of the situation in the country.

The report, which is the first of its kind to be written entirely during the administration of President Donald Trump, has been criticized by rights groups for not mentioning “known human rights violators” like Saudi Arabia.

In a reaction to it, national director of advocacy and governmental relations at Amnesty International USA Joanne Lin, said the Trump “administration's deference to known human rights violators like the governments of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, make us skeptical that these reports present a full picture of human rights around the world.”

"From the beginning, this administration has sent the message that the United States will no longer prioritize efforts to hold the global community to account for human rights,” she said.

Amnesty International said in a statement last month that the Saudi image is tarnished by "a ruthless crackdown on freedom of expression and a bombing offensive in Yemen," calling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's recent visits to the UK and US as futile to mask the kingdom's crackdown against dissent.

US President Donald Trump (R) meets with Saudi Arabia crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House on March 20, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The kingdom launched an offensive against Yemen in March 2015. The military campaign has killed and injured over 600,000 civilians, according to the latest figures released by the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights.

Several Western countries, the US and the UK in particular, are accused of being complicit in the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also reacted to the report, saying the Trump administration strengthened the report’s criticisms of countries it considers rivals while muting anything directed at nations it considered friendly.

“Those kinds of changes make the report seem less fair and thus less credible around the world,” said John Sifton, an advocacy director at HRW.

The report was released at a time of increased tensions with Beijing over a trade dispute as well as with Russia and Iran over their support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.