In a long-winded cover-up with PR spin, the US lied, and concealed the facts, of US spying, torture, imprisonment of migrant children, and violations in Indian country, during its human rights review by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
The United States lied about spying, torture and the imprisonment of migrant children, before the UN Human Rights Council during a review of the US human rights record on Monday in Geneva.
The US delegation said that US spying has not been used to suppress dissent or for unfair business advantage. However, the US government has used spying to stalk and entrap activists, spy on the media, and imprison whistleblowers. Further, the US government has used the NSA spying for insider knowledge for business and trade.
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| Photo: Migrant children in holding cell in Brownsville, Texas. |
During the Universal Periodic Review, the US delegation concealed the facts of the imprisonment of migrant children, the murder of women and children during drone assassinations, and the truth about US torture and renditions.
Chad's representative Awada Angui told the UN Human Rights Council, "Chad considers the United States of America to be a country of freedom, but recent events targeting black sectors of society have tarnished its image.”
The US concealed its prisons for profit empire, which has resulted in the imprisonment of migrants, blacks, American Indians and Chicanos for corporate profit. The US did not mention its political prisoners.
The US did not provide the facts of the murder of migrants by US Border Patrol agents, or of the rape and abuse carried out by US Border Patrol agents. The US delegation did not reveal that hundreds of US Border Patrol and ICE agents have been convicted for drug smuggling and serving as “spotters” for the drug cartels to bring their load across the Mexican border. Tohono O'odham and other Indigenous Peoples living along the border are the victims of violence carried out by the US Border Patrol agents and drug cartels.
During its responses, the US attempted to cover up the widespread rape within the US military and the extensive homelessness and failed medical services for veterans in the US.
The majority of the predominantly docile UN Human Rights Council representatives seemed to believe the US public relations spin asserting that all problems in Indian country have been solved. The US did not reveal that coal mining, power plants and uranium mining are poisoning Native American communities. The US did not reveal that Navajos and Pueblos in the Southwest live in a cancer alley created by uranium mines, and dirty coal-fired power plants.
The US concealed its ongoing theft of Native American water rights throughout the west. This comes as many Navajos have to haul their water, and Pueblos, Tohono O'odham and others are left with water polluted and depleted by mining and industry.
The US did not reveal that it had carried out a systematic regime of spying on the American Indian Movement, Black Panthers and Chicano movements, by way of COINTELPRO, and that entrapment and provocateurs were used to silence and imprison activists in the US.
The US did not reveal the systematic abuse of Native American children in boarding schools, or the generations of kidnapping, torture and murder in US government boarding schools. The theft of Native American children continues today by social services and the sexual abuse continues in boarding schools and foster homes.
The Federation of Russia, Pakistan, China, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Korea, Ecuador and Mexico representatives gave passionate recommendations to the United States.
Pakistan urged the prosecution of CIA agents responsible for torture. Cuba also pressed for prosecution of those responsible for torture. Cuba also pressed for programs to reduce poverty in the US affecting 48 million people. Ecuador called for the prosecution of those responsible for torture and the use of drones for killing. Democratic Republic of Korea pressed for an end to racial discrimination and torture. Egypt called for an end to discrimination of Middle Easterners at airports.
Mexico pointed out the murder of its citizens by border immigration agents and the need for reparations. The Russian Federation quickly stated a long list of concerns and recommendations, including police arbitrary procedures, need to close Guantanamo, need to halt extrajudicial killings including drones, cruel treatment of adoptive children, and the racial profiling of Indigenous.
China pointed out the racial discrimination, spying, torture and abuse of blacks and Indigenous by the United States government.
During the review, the UN Human Rights Council representatives expressed the most concern over the murder of unarmed black men by police in the United States. The elimination of racial discrimination in the US was among the top concerns, along with elimination of the death penalty. The treatment of women in the US, and the need for access to abortion for rape victims were also concerns.
Keith Harper, member of the Cherokee Nation and US representative to the Human Rights Council, opened the address of the US delegation to the UN Human Rights Council. Although Harper offered assurances of new efforts to protect Native American rights, Bolivia pressed for implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
While US officials attempted to cover up its extensive spy network of its citizens, Brazil and Kenya were among those voicing concern over the extent of U.S. surveillance and the National Security Agency.
David Bitkower, a deputy assistant attorney general, responded that "U.S. intelligence collection programs and activities are subject to stringent and multilayered oversight mechanisms." He added that the country doesn't collect intelligence to suppress dissents or to give U.S. businesses a competitive advantage, and that there is "extensive and effective oversight to prevent abuse."
However, the US pattern of stalking human rights and environmental activists, the imprisonment of whistleblowers, and spying on news media e-mails have a chilling effect on free speech in the US.
Even Native Americans have been lured into the US massive spy network, as evidenced by the multi-million dollar US contract for domestic and international spying to Ho Chunk, Inc., in Nebraska, owner of the American Indian news website
www.indianz.com.
The US delegation concealed the fact that the imprisonment of whistleblowers and assassinations by drones have accelerated during the Obama administration.
During the review on Monday, the United States was not held accountable for arming the drug war in Mexico by providing drug cartels with assault weapons. The ATF’s Project Gunrunner, Operation Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious have armed the drug cartels in Mexico since 2005, beginning on the Texas border and continuing on the Arizona border, according to US Dept. of Justice documents.
Further, the US delegation concealed the fact US Homeland Security gave the US border surveillance contract to Israel’s Apartheid security contractor Elbit Systems, responsible for the security surrounding Palestine. Currently Elbit holds the contract to construct US spy towers on the Arizona border, including those on the sovereign Tohono O’odham Nation.
The most egregious cover-ups by the US delegation were the fantasy claims by the US delegation regarding the fairy tale array of services for migrant children. Migrant children have been imprisoned in large numbers, in violation of international law.
The US fantasy claims included the denial of torture, and assurances that all inmates in Guantanamo had access to fair trials. While one member of the US delegation asserted that the US had gone too far in its torture program, and steps had been taken to halt it, another member of the US delegation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff assured the Human Rights Council that inmates at Guantanamo were treated in accordance with domestic and international law.
The session was broadcast live on the web, making possible this coverage.
For permission to repost or publish this article: brendanorrell@gmail.com
