U.S. human rights situation in 2021: Abuse of force, sanctions violate human rights in other countries

The U.S. undergoes a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of August 2021. In the ensuing chaos at Kabul’s main airport, a U.S. C-17 transport plane forcibly takes off, with people falling to their death from mid-air. (Cartoon by Lu Lingxing)

The human rights situation in the United States, which already has a long notorious record, worsened in 2021. On Feb. 28, 2022, China issued its “The Report on Human Rights Violations in the United States in 2021.”

According to the report, the U.S. has always pursued hegemonism, unilateralism and interventionism. The country frequently uses force, resulting in a large number of civilian casualties. Its abusive use of unilateral sanctions has caused humanitarian crises. The U.S. is challenging justice with hegemony, trampling on righteousness with its own self-interest, and wantonly violating human rights in other countries. It has become the biggest obstacle and destroyer of the sound development of the international human rights cause.

The U.S. “War on Terror” has killed large numbers of civilians. The website of USA TODAY reported on Feb. 25, 2021, that the so-called anti-terrorism wars launched by the U.S. in the past 20 years has claimed the lives of more than 929,000 people, according to the latest “costs of war” study published by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. The 20-year period of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan has killed 174,000 people, including more than 30,000 civilians, while having injured more than 60,000 people.

The website of USA TODAY commented on Aug. 26, 2021 that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was a total disaster. Tragedies like the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and Vietnam show that Washington has a history of ignoring basic humanitarianism for its own selfish ends.

Amidst the chaos at Kabul’s main airport, a U.S. C-17 transport plane forcibly took off regardless of the safety of Afghan civilians on the ground, with someone crushed to death by a wheel while the plane retracted its landing gear, and with still others falling to their deaths from mid-air. Even in the last minutes of the frantic evacuation, the U.S. army’s air strikes caused heavy civilian casualties.

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