"War on Terror" Human Rights Issues
Unilateralism
At the United Nations General Assembly, President Bush recently spoke of "broken treaties," UN resolutions being "unilaterally subverted," and of the United States’ wish for the UN to be "effective, and respected, and successful." Yet, in the two years preceding this statement, the US government has increasingly dismissed or rejected multilateral treaties. The US Government
- has undermined the UN Charter by threatening preemptive, unilateral military action in Iraq.
- continues to reject provisions of the Geneva Conventions that pertain to the treatment of prisoners detained at the US Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba, and in other regions of the world.
- has withdrawn its signature from the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court and launched a worldwide campaign undermine the Court’s jurisdiction.
- stands virtually alone in the world in its failure to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights treaties.
- continues to sentence child offenders to death despite the fact that this practice is prohibited by human rights treaties and has been virtually abolished outside of the United States.
Such actions weaken the framework for international peace and human rights that the United States was a leader in establishing after World War II. They threaten to undermine the value of US commitments and they risk alienating allies at a time when international cooperation is crucial. They also send a message that it is acceptable for governments to ignore their obligations under international law.