(MintPress) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus issued a report detailing human rights violations in Western countries, including the U.S., where it claims more than 15 violations of international human rights laws have been violated in 2012 alone.
The report states the U.S. violated the “Right to Life” provision by stating that a petition signed by more than 200,000 people seeking gun reform laws in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. shooting was sent to the legislature without immediate action. While that may be true, Congress is now in the process of debating how — or if — gun laws should be enhanced and enforced.
“The aim of the report is to draw attention to the violation of human rights in those countries that traditionally represent themselves as ‘developed democracies,’ to illustrate based on concrete facts their noncompliance with their international legal obligations,” the report states.
Countries highlighted in the report include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States, among other Western countries.
Other categories provide more concrete examples relating to violations of the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. The Chicago North American Trade Organization (NATO) protests of May 20, 2012 in which 60 protesters were arrested and detained, is listed as one violation example. The report states that, during that same incident, more than 12 people suffered injury from police using rubber batons as weapons.
Texas’ right to self-determination, guaranteed under Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), was arguably violated when the state’s residents gathered more than 125,000 signatures in favor of seceding from the union. Only 25,000 signatures are required before the White House must publish a response. Texas wasn’t the only state, however, as enough signatures were also gathered in Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.
Sex trafficking in the U.S. was highlighted under contemporary forms of slavery — 100,000 U.S. children have been a part of human trafficking rings, most notably related to prostitution and the sex trade, according to the report. Aside from the numbers, 16 states in the U.S. have laws in place considered satisfactory in protecting underage Americans from winding up in the sex trade.
While not giving specific examples, the report also touched on U.S. foreign policy, most notably President Barack Obama’s right to order the killing of any U.S. citizen considered by the government a terrorist. It also addressed the right of the president to indefinitely detain any Americans accused of terrorism.