9 March 2015 - 06:44 PM
US Hypocrisy and the Decision to Label Venezuela a Threat
0
Comentarios +

On Monday U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order that labels Venezuela a “threat to national security” due to alleged erosions of human rights guarantees and freedoms in the South American nation.

Protesters demanding the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees, which President Obama said he would do six years ago.

READ MORE: What does it mean to declaring a country a 'national security threat'?

Yet the hypocrisy and political motivation behind the decision is clear in the failure of the United States to sign up to numerous international treaties defending the very principles it falsely accuses Venezuela of violating.

The United States is one of the few countries in the world to not have signed up to the International Criminal Court. All South American nations, and 123 nations in total, have signed up to the body whose aim is to "bring to justice the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind – war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide."

Not only is the U.S. one of the few countries not to have ratified the statute that founded the ICC, but at the turn of the century it actually took the unprecedented move to "unsign" the treaty. Since then it has been accused of undermining the ICC by entering into bilateral agreements with nations to exempt U.S. military and government personnel from the court's jurisdiction.

The U.S. has also failed to ratify the following significant international agreements that seek to defend human rights:

—International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

—Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

—Convention on the Rights of the Child

—Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming to the abolition of the death penalty

—Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

READ MORE: The Short Long List of US Hypocrisy

Loading...
Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.