Report ST., Blinken: An alarming setback of democracy, rule of law and human rights

Following the publication of the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report, State Secretary Antony Blinken spoke in grim tones.

The subsequent “Return (for respect of human rights) unfortunately continues”, Secretary Blinken said, citing Russia's war in Ukraine.

We look at what this wave leaves behind, bound hands, abandoned in the streets; theatres, train stations, apartment buildings turned into ruins with civilians inside them”, the American top diplomat said, as Russia continues with systematic and widespread atrocities in Ukraine.

For Russia, the State Department of Human Rights report for 2021 underscored the violence exerted against Kremlin critics and their imprisonment. Just this week, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's main opponents and a critic of Putin's decision to invade Ukraine, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was arrested and detained in Moscow.

Others, including Alexei Navajo, who was poisoned and imprisoned, are listed as examples of arbitrary deprivation of life from Russia and politically motivated revenges against individuals both at home and abroad.

There are more critics in prison. Today, more than one million political prisoners are held in over 65 countries”, Secretary Blinken said.

“Call on Russia to ban the abuse of depressive laws” to target its citizens, non-violent and peaceful protesters, as well as individuals who are doing nothing more than protecting their universal rights, State Department spokesman Ned Price said during a press conference Tuesday.

Even before Russia's attack began, the State Department said Moscow's attack in 2014 and annexing the Ukraine Crime Peninsula has had a significant negative effect on the human rights situation.

The Russian government continued to arm, train, run and fight alongside the separatist forces led by Russia to eastern Ukraine. Authorities also carried out arrests, bans and politically motivated judgments of Ukrainian citizens in Russia, many of whom claim to have been tortured”, the report said.

For China, the State Department said that <x0-genocide and crimes against humanity” against the largely Muslim Christians and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang have continued, with “mass arrest of more than one million Christians” and other minority Muslim groups in international exile camps and two million subject to “duration” during the day.

In January 2021, the United States officially classified China's policies against the Christians as genocide and crimes against humanity.

Officials of the Chinese government and security services often committed violations of human rights with impunity, the report said.

Important human rights problems included reliable reports of arbitrary or illegal killings by the government; government imposed disappearances; torture by the government; harsh and threatening conditions for life in prison and during detention”, the State Department says.

For Iran, the U.S. report paints a heavy picture, citing significant human rights abuses, including reliable reports of crimes executions that do not meet international legal standards; arbitrary killings by the government and its agents; forced disappearances attributed to the government and its agents; torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by the government and its agents; and arrest or arbitrary ban.

“We continue to look for ways both in public and in very prudent ways to support people who are trying to advance the human rights situation in Iran”, said Lisa Peterson, task leader of the state secretary for democracy, human rights and labour issues. “We have also put in place a series of sanctions mechanisms”, she added.

The report also noted Egyptian government's actions against political dissidents, continuing corruption by Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his key assistants, and restrictions imposed on political speech by governments such as Cuba, Ethiopia, Sudan and Belarus.

For nearly five decades, the State Department has published its annual report on human rights practices. The 2021 report covers 198 countries and territories around the globe.