5. Relevant Behaviors of the U.S. Government Seriously Violating the Spirit of International Human Rights Law
When the citizens' right to life and health is severely threatened by the spreading pandemic, the U.S. government, instead of focusing on controlling the pandemic, wields a hegemonic stick and fans the flames of trouble everywhere, trying to divert attention and shirk responsibility. Its behaviors have seriously undermined the international community's concerted efforts to control the pandemic.
Ineffective Anti-pandemic Efforts Failing the National Duty of Ensuring the Citizens' Right to Life.The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) stipulates that every human being has the inherent right to life, and countries are obliged to take proactive measures to guarantee their citizens' right to life. As a party to the convention, the U.S. government, however, has not given priority to its citizens' right to life and health during the pandemic. Instead, it has been prioritizing the political campaign at home and the political drive to suppress China abroad, rather than safeguarding the lives and safety of its citizens. Given this, it has missed the best chance to curb the spread of the virus, and caused a grave human rights disaster in which about 2 million people have been infected with COVID-19, and more than 110,000 have died from the virus. Clearly, the U.S. government has failed to fulfill its due national obligations to protect its people's lives from the threat of epidemics. The website ofThe Independent, a British newspaper, commented on April 10, 2020, that the United States, an active advocator for human rights, ignored its own human rights obligations and blatantly overlooked its citizens' lives. The website of theHuffington Postreported on May 6 that after making a rigorous assessment of the U.S. government's poor performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale University epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves directly pointed out that this was getting awfully close to genocide by default.
Maliciously Stigmatizing China in Violation of the Principles of Equality and Non-discrimination.The principles of equality and non-discrimination are the core norms of international human rights laws and are confirmed by a series of international human rights instruments, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since the outbreak of the virus, high-ranking U.S. government officials have violently disregarded human conscience and ethical bottom lines. To maintain the U.S. hegemony, these officials have politicized the pandemic and constantly stigmatized China by referring to the virus as the "Wuhan Virus" or the "China virus". When the scientific community came to the conclusion that the exact source of the virus was from nature, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo still repeatedly claimed that the virus came from some lab in Wuhan according to some "intelligence reports" he read. These politicians' behaviors have clearly violated World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases, which was jointly issued by the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2015. The way they refer to the virus goes against the World Health Organization's suggestion for the official name of the novel coronavirus disease. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Tendayi Achiume, pointed out on March 23 that some U.S. government officials refused to use the internationally-recognized name of the virus and deliberately replaced it with other names that linked this particular disease to a particular country or nation, which was an irresponsible and disturbing expression that came from and would give rise to racism, xenophobia, stigmatization, and exclusion of certain groups, and violence against certain groups. She held that such behaviors were unforgivable and incompatible with the obligations stipulated by the international human rights laws.
Suspending the Payment of WHO Membership Fees Impeding the Joint Anti-Pandemic Efforts of the International Community.In order to shirk its responsibility for its disastrous anti-pandemic measures, the U.S. government tried to scapegoat the World Health Organization by fabricating false charges against the organization and threatening to stop paying its membership fees. On April 14, 2020, the U.S. government announced its suspension of paying dues to the WHO, which was unanimously criticized by the international community. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement on April 14 stating that when the world was fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, it was inappropriate to reduce the resources required by the WHO or any other humanitarian organization for operations. The President of the American Medical Association, Patrice Harris, issued a statement on April 15 stating that combating the pandemic required international cooperation and that the suspension of financial support to the WHO at this critical moment is a dangerous step in the wrong direction. Josep Borrell, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, expressed on April 15 that at this time, there was no reason to justify such an action. On April 15, the website of The Guardian, a British newspaper, published an editorial and commented that when the world desperately needed to jointly overcome this threat that the world had never experienced before, the suspension of the WHO dues by the U.S. government was an act that lacked morality and disrupted the international order, and was a horrible betrayal to global solidarity. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on April 16 that the WHO was the mainstay of the global fight against the pandemic, and the suspension of the WHO dues by the United States at this time "would be nothing other than throwing the pilot out of the plane in mid-flight". Under such circumstances, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo once again attacked the WHO on April 22, threatening to permanently suspend the payment of dues. On May 29, the president of the United States announced the suspension of relations with the WHO.
Unilateral Sanctions Violating the Spirit of Humanitarianism and the Principle of International Cooperation.International cooperation is the cornerstone of the existence and operation of the international community. It is an important principle for ensuring the implementation of human rights and fundamental freedoms across the globe. It is also a national obligation stipulated by international instruments, such as the Charter of the United Nations. At this critical moment when the deadly pandemic spreads globally and threatens human life, health, and well-being, all countries should work together to respond to the pandemic and maintain global public health security. Nevertheless, during this pandemic, the U.S. government has still imposed sanctions on countries such as Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela, which made it difficult for the sanctioned countries to obtain needed anti-pandemic medical supplies in a timely manner, and posed threats to the people's rights to life and health in the sanctioned countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed on March 24, 2020, that in the case of a global pandemic, sanctions would hinder medical work and increase risks for everyone. She argued that to maintain global public health security and protect the rights and lives of millions of people in sanctioned countries, sanctions should be relaxed or suspended in certain sectors. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, the Special Rapporteur on human rights for safe drinking water and sanitation, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to education issued a joint statement on May 6 stating that the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela were seriously harming the human rights of the people in the country. They urged the United States to immediately lift sanctions that exacerbated the suffering of the people when the pandemic raged in the country.
