The United States of America Doesn't Care about Human Rights.
As citizens of the United States of America we are led to believe that our nation acts in the best interests of humanity as a whole, we are led to believe that we live in a democratic society where if you work hard and play by the rules, anything is possible. Perhaps most importantly we are led to believe that it is our duty as a nation to promote peace and human rights around the world. While I would seriously love for any of that to be true, this is not the case.
The United States of America is not in the business of standing up for human rights, in fact, the United States isn't even part of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Reporting from Aljazeera indicates that the US withdrew itself from the UN's most deliberative body on human rights last June, accusing it of "Chronic bias" against Israel. According to Nikki Haley, previous US ambassador to the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council is "...a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights".
To go even further, the United States has been known to pressure foreign nations that are part of the International Criminal Court with revoking US aid if they choose to attempt to prosecute the United States for War Crimes, and to go even further, the United States refuses to even grant visas to ICC members, according to Human Rights Watch this "...will imperil accountability for grave international crimes".
International justice director at Human Rights Watch, Richard Dicker has stated, "The decision to put visa bans on ICC staff is an outrageous effort to bully the court and deter scrutiny of US conduct", if the United States was really as virtuous as they lead their population to believe they would welcome criminal investigations into Human Rights abuses because they should have nothing to hide. Unfortunately, this proves the opposite to be the case.
The International Criminal Court was formed in the mid 1990's after horrible genocides in Yugoslavia and Rwanda and is mandated with prosecuting individuals or nations responsible for war crimes, genocide, crimes of aggression, and crimes against humanity. Human Rights Watch states that the ICC "...will only open investigations if national authorities are unwilling or unable to conduct genuine national proceedings...". The fact that the ICC is looking into prosecuting the United States is proof enough to prove that those in positions of power are unable to hold themselves accountable, and the only way they can attempt to thwart off being held accountable on the international stage is to hold smaller nations at bay by withdrawing US aid if they choose to prosecute, holding them hostage at the hands of the United States economic empire.
The United Staes plays the role of the abusive boyfriend in international foreign policy. We destabilize nations for profit, abusing their people in the process, and trampling on the rights of the international community, all in the name of American exceptionalism. We offer nations just enough aid to stay afloat, but not enough for them to be prosperous on their own because we want to keep them under the control of our economic empire. Along with that aid comes preconditions, always attempting to model these nations after western civilization regardless of the wishes of the native population. And if the abused people ever speak up about their situation and make their wishes known, they are at risk of losing the little aid they do receive, resulting in even greater destabilization.
As Americans, we are led to believe that the United States stands above all other nations on Earth. We are fed the age old tale of the great American Revolution, a bucking of the status quo that was the Monarchy of the British Empire in the name of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that would become American Representative-Democracy. We are taught of great revolutionaries like George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, and the fight they waged against the British crown, risking their lives so that America could become a free, sovereign nation.
Revolution is a tricky thing to do correctly, though, as George Orwell's "Animal Farm" points out all too accurately. All revolutions pose the risk of eventually becoming the exact embodiment of what was originally revolted against. The old saying is that absolute power corrupts absolutely, so we must always remember to keep the power in the hands of the people, and not designate it to the elite few. The pigs, given the same opportunity, will just become the next people.
The history of America we are taught is one that glosses over the trail of tears, pays little attention to the plight of racism after the civil war, and exemplifies how the virtue of America, is above all other nations. The history of America we are all taught is one that creates the myth of American exceptionalism, and then reinforces it every time it is repeated.
We need to learn the truth about American History before we can truly move on from our past.