The human rights situation in the United States continues to deteriorate in 2024. Human rights have become increasingly polarized, marginalizing the majority of ordinary people while nullifying their fundamental rights and freedoms compared to the politically, economically, and socially dominant minority.

Gun violence is endemic, and government policies to control it are weak. There were at least 654 mass shootings in the United States in 2023. Gun violence is responsible for nearly 43,000 deaths, an average of 117 per day. Driven by partisan polarization and interest groups, a growing number of state governments have pushed legislation to expand residents’ rights to own and bear arms. In 2023, at least 27 states did not require a license to carry a handgun.

The government abused its power to monitor citizens’ privacy, and freedom of speech and expression was suppressed. The FBI redirected Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct domestic surveillance, “extensively and continuously” monitoring the communications of members of Congress, congressional campaign donors, and anti-racist protesters. A growing number of states passed legislation banning public schools from using educational materials and books that address specific topics such as race, history, and gender. On U.S. college campuses, the number of faculty members being punished or fired for speaking or expressing themselves is at a 20-year high.

The number of deaths caused by police abuse and violence remains high, and the system of police accountability for law enforcement is in vain. Police in the United States killed at least 1,247 people in 2023, an average of at least three people a day. Police internal affairs departments are often more interested in exonerating their colleagues than investigating misconduct, making it difficult for officers to be held accountable. More than half of police killings in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s official death statistics database are incorrectly labeled as “general homicide or suicide.”

The problem of mass incarceration and forced labor is prominent, making the United States a veritable “prison country.” The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, the highest incarceration rate in the world. Prisons force inmates to work for little or no pay and no benefits, creating billions of dollars worth of goods and services each year.

Party rivalry continues to intensify, and elections are manipulated in various ways. The 118th US Congress staged the “speaker difficult childbirth” farce twice, making 2023 the lowest legislative efficiency year since the US Civil War. The two parties continue to manipulate the redistricting of electoral districts, distorting public opinion for party self-interest. In 16 states with significant instances of manipulation in drawing congressional districts, 12 were “heavily manipulated states overall.” The general public is deeply disenchanted with the federal government and politics at all levels, with 76 percent of Americans saying their country is headed in the wrong direction.

Ethnic minorities face systemic racial discrimination, and the chronic disease of racism has far-reaching consequences. African Americans are three times more likely to be killed by police and 4.5 times more likely to be incarcerated than whites. Nearly three-quarters of Chinese Americans experienced racial discrimination in the past year, and 55 percent are concerned about hate crimes or harassment. Native American Indians have always lived under cultural oppression, with their religious beliefs and traditional practices ruthlessly stifled. Racist ideology is spreading virulently in the United States and spilling across borders.

Economic and social inequality is rising, and those at the bottom are struggling. The United States has refused to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Under the influence of institutional design exploiting the poor, subsidizing the rich, and separating the classes, the gap between the rich and the poor in the United States has reached the worst level since the Great Economic Crisis of 1929. The “working poor,” trapped in structural poverty, lack both equality of opportunity and upward mobility. The number of homeless people is more than 650,000, the highest since statistics began in 2007. Drug and substance abuse continues to spread, and suicide rates continue to rise.

The United States has not ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and is the only UN member state that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The U.S. Constitution does not prohibit sex discrimination, and it is the only country in the world that sentences children to life in prison without parole. The number of maternal deaths in the United States has more than doubled in nearly 20 years, and more than 2.2 million American women of childbearing age do not have access to obstetric care. At least 21 states ban or severely restrict abortion. About 54,000 women lose their jobs every year due to pregnancy discrimination. Millions of children are being denied health insurance subsidies. Thousands of foster children go missing each year, and audits found that 46 states underreported about 34,800 cases of missing foster children.

The humanitarian crisis in border areas has escalated, and the dire situation of migrants is alarming. The U.S. southern border is ranked by the International Organization for Migration as the world’s deadliest overland migrant route. In the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2023, 149 migrants lost their lives in the El Paso Border Patrol Area alone. In fiscal year 2023, the total number of immigrants apprehended or deported at the U.S. southern border reached more than 2.4 million, another record high. Migrants are subjected to torture and other inhuman treatment. Border policies exacerbate human trafficking and foster modern slavery, where migrant children are subjected to brutal forced labor and exploitation.

The United States has long pursued hegemonism, unilateralism, and power politics, creating humanitarian crises. After 9/11, the total death toll in the war zones where the United States waged its overseas “war on terror” was at least 4.5 million to 4.7 million. The US military operates “foreign agent programs” in more than a dozen countries, violating other countries’ sovereignty and human rights. The continued supply of weapons to conflict areas has led to a large number of innocent civilian casualties. The Guantanamo prison, where human rights are grossly violated, is still in operation today. The prolonged and indiscriminate use of unilateral sanctions, the largest number of sanctions in the world, has caused serious humanitarian consequences.

Various human rights problems in the United States not only turn human rights in the United States into a privilege enjoyed by a few but also seriously threaten and hinder the healthy development of the world’s human rights cause.

RAIS SALEEM,

Bahawalpur.