Violations of human rights are evident in the United States. There are a number of circumstances where fundamental human rights are abused and violated. In the United States, there existed a culture of discrimination between whites and blacks. The non – blacks and blacks were kept separated. The blacks were treated badly and were subjected to worst torture; which violated their right to equality and liberty.
Blacks were provided the worst jobs which violated their right to work. They have encountered harsh injustice. Even though whites and blacks are assassinated in almost equal numbers, more than 80% were put to death for killing whites and 13% were executed for killing blacks. Such unfair discrimination was responsible for the violation of human rights of blacks.
The practice of Death Penalty in the United States violated the right to life. Death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. Violence has a demoralizing or distressing effect on the lives of people. Every human being has a right of living free from violence.
Yet many people especially women and girls suffer from domestic abuse and other types of gender- based violence. Many girls and women are subjected to genital mutilation which violates their human rights. It also violates their right to health safety and right to life. The medical health care catastrophe in the United States has led to the death of women during childbirth. Every woman has a right to deliver their child safely and crisis of the health care in the States have led to the violation of right to safety. The practice of slavery demolished the right to freedom, right to liberty and freedom of speech.
Many soldiers in the United States have refused to participate in the war in Iraq. They have submitted an application for conscientious objector (CO) which would allow their exclusion from participation in war, based on reasons of conviction. But the US government has denied most of this appeal and has violently pursued soldiers who have undergone absent without leave (AWOL); an offense punishable by a sentence of death by firing squad. The soldiers were thus deprived of freedom of thought and conscience; eventually becoming prisoners of conscience.
The practice of imprisonment of immigrants violated their dignity and inherent rights. More than 25,000 immigrants are detained each day in the US. United States is the single country in the world which punishes life imprisonment to children and young adolescents for crimes committed before they were 18 years of age. The incidents of police beatings, utilization of harmful restraint technique, unjustified shootings are the incidents which violates human rights. Furthermore, these incidents go largely unchecked.
Many people were subjected to torture which violated the right to liberty, right to equality and right to life. As a mechanism of torture, Stunbelts were used which produced 8 second 50,000 volt electric shock. More than 1,800 such weapons were sold to United States prisons. The Border Patrol of US has violated numerous human rights by unjustified killing, harsh physical treatment, routine beatings, torture etc.