Trump Redefines Human Rights

We all know about the monstrous Nazi like violations of human rights of 5000 children kept in cages at the boarder. But what else has Trump done to create moral outrage on  human rights?

The Trump administration is coming under fire for its refusal to engage with international human rights monitors over potential violations inside the US, from police brutality and executions to the abuse of migrant children at the border.Protests have poured in from organisations objecting to the government’s virtual boycott of established systems designed to protect human rights, after the US withdrew from the United Nations human rights council last year. Washington is accused of rebuffing official complaints from monitors, undermining human rights bodies and threatening officials with prosecution should they set foot on US soil.[1]

the state department claims to remain “deeply committed to the promotion and defense of human rights around the globe”[2] yet it declines comment on the allegations otherwise. "The cold shoulder given to some of the world’s most respected human rights experts marks an extraordinary about-turn for the US, which under previous presidents has prided itself for upholding standards. The US was central to the creation in 1945 of the UN, which is headquartered in New York."[3]

Human right organizations find the pace of violations connected to the Trump administration is growing. Columbia law school human rights institute has developed the human rights tracker.
"It is difficult to keep up with all that the new administration is doing that threatens human rights. Each day brings fresh news of a damaging initiative by the President of the United States.
This tracker was designed to help journalists, civil society organizations, and the general public understand how the Trump Administration is impacting human rights."[4]

The administration has signaled minimal support for rights but everything it has done suggests the opposite. They rolled back efforts to reduce over incarceration. One might be tempted to argue "what about over commission of crimes that make incarceration necessary?" Well consider state and federal jails hold over 2 million people,4.5 million on probation or parole.[5]  Women are the fastest growimg segentothe indorceratedpoploation that is across the nation. more than 700 percent between 1980 and 2016. Human Rights Watch documented the lasting harm of jailing mothers pretrial, many of whom simply cannot afford bail in that state.32000 kids incarcerated in adult jails.[6] [7]

The 121-page report, “You Miss So Much When You’re Gone’: The Lasting Harm of Jailing Mothers Before Trial in Oklahoma,” finds that jailing mothers even for short periods of time can result in overwhelming debt and loss of child custody. Based on more than 160 interviews with jailed and formerly jailed mothers, substitute caregivers, children, attorneys, service providers, child welfare employees, and advocates, this joint report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) documents the harms experienced by women with minor children jailed pretrial in Oklahoma – which incarcerates more women per capita than any other state.[8]

Mothers plead guilty ad don't fight charges because they have to get back  with the children.
“Mothers are often presented with exorbitant bills for their jail stay in addition to other fines and fees, making it harder for them to get back on their feet and establish the stability they need to regain custody of their children.”[9]

There also racial inquiries:

Racial disparities permeate every part of the US criminal justice system. Black people are 13 percent of the population but close to 40 percent of those in prisons. They are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of white people. Black people use illegal drugs at similar rates to white people, but suffer drug arrests at significantly higher rates...According to the Washington Post, police reportedly shot and killed 876 people in the US as of the beginning of October. Of those killed, whose race is known, 22 percent were black. Of the unarmed people killed by police, 39 percent were black. The Justice Department rolled back efforts to investigate local police departments following credible reports of systemic constitutional violations. Some state governments have taken on this oversight role. Racial disparities in police use of force, arrests, citations, and traffic stops continue to exist.[10]  

 Translates into voter suppression

Millions of people still cannot vote due to a patchwork of felony disenfranchisement laws across the country. However, in November, Florida voters approved a ballot initiative during the mid-term elections that restored the right to vote for 1.4 million residents with felony convictions. The initiative was one of several that states passed that advanced criminal justice reform, including an initiative in Colorado that removed language in the state constitution that permitted convicted criminals to be forced to work in prison without pay or restitution; an initiative in Florida, allowing sentencing reforms to be retroactive; one in Michigan that legalized marijuana for recreational use; and another in Washington state that strengthened police accountability.[11]

Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato institute harps on the inconsistency of American  foreign policy to staunchly support dictators throughout the 20th century while preaching democracy around the world. He Then states; "Likewise, the Trump administration’s relationship with Saudi Arabia’s murderous totalitarian theocracy remains exceedingly close, despite Riyadh’s genocidal war in Yemen and other outrages."[12]

Yet all of this pales in comparison, In the grand style of Trump always the biggest,the best,the better, if he's strong he's Herculean, if he's smart he's Spock, if he;s evil he;s the anti- 
christ, Trump wi;; now redefine human rights! He has actually instituted a commission for this very purpose! WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that he was installing a human rights advisory panel in the State Department, and named a conservative law professor as its chairwoman, to review and tighten the agency’s definition of human rights and ensure it is grounded in the “nation’s founding principles” and a 1948 United Nations declaration.[13] 

This, remember, is the administration that has consistently relegated human rights in its valueless foreign policy; saw in the Saudi murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi no cause to reprimand Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; embraced North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un; kowtowed to every autocrat outside Iran and Venezuela; and separated migrant children from their families to hold them in appalling camps.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday the creation of a Commission on Unalienable Rights to provide “an informed review of the role of human rights in American foreign policy.” But this superficially laudable step is fraught with threats to the very human rights that it purports to strengthen.[14]

That is because, as Pompeo suggested, the purpose of the commission is not to uphold all rights but to pick and choose among them: “What does it mean to say or claim that something is, in fact, a human right? How do we know or how do we determine whether that claim that this or that is a human right, is it true, and therefore, ought it to be honored?”[15]

NOTES

[1]Ed Pilkington, "Trump Administration Ignoring Human rights monitors, UC:U Tells UN." The Guardian," (March 18,2019)
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/mar/18/trump-administration-ignoring-human-rights-monitors-aclu  (accessed Feb 17,2020)

[2] Ibid

[3]Ibid

[4]Columbia Law School, "Trump Administration Human Rights Tracker"A project by the Columbia Human Rights Law Review supported by Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, No date the first date on the tracker is Oct 4, 2019.
https://trumphumanrightstracker.law.columbia.edu/ 
(accessed Feb 17,2020)

The Columbia Human Rights Law Review and Columbia Law School’s Rightslink, Human Rights Clinic, and Human Rights Institute launched this regularly updated tool at the start of Trump’s Presidency to keep track of the Executive Branch’s actions and their impacts on human rights. It summarizes the action taken by the administration, identifies the human rights implications, and provides links to sources where readers can find more detailed analysis.Input from those using this tool is welcome at trumphumanrights@gmail.com.MethodologyWhat counts as an “action” ?Relevant executive actions include executive orders, presidential memoranda, presidential proclamations, and signing statements; bill signings and presidential vetoes, determined on a case-by-case basis; and various agency actions, also determined on a case-by-case basis. Relevant executive actions do not include speculated executive actions (e.g., leaked drafts of executive orders) and rhetorical presidential statements (e.g., speeches and Tweets), and actions that do not have have real or purported legal effect.

[5]Human's Rights Watchl "Events of 2018," Human Rights Watch Kenneth 
Roth excective Director (2018)
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/united-states
(accessed Feb 17,2020)

[6]Ibid

[7]  "US: Devastating Impact of Jailing Mothers," Human Rights Watch (September 26, 2018 12:01AM EDT)
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/09/26/us-devastating-impact-jailing-mothers
(accessed Feb 17,2020)

[8] Ibid
[9] Ibid
[10] "Events 2018." Human rights watch op cit

[11]Ibid

[12]   Ted Galen Carpenter "Washington's Incoherent Policy toward Dictators," Cato Institute (Jan 30,2019)
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/washingtons-incoherent-policy-towards-dictators
(accessed Feb 17,2020)
The American Conservative on January 30, 2019.

The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues.

aka High class,scholarly, right wing 


[13] Edward Wong and Eileen Sullivan. "New Human 
rights Panel Raises Fears if a Narroiwing US Advocacy." New York Times (July 8, 2019)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/us/politics/state-human-rights.html
(accessed Feb 17,2020)

[14]Kenneth Roth, "Beware The Trump Administration's Plans or 'Fresh Thinking' on Human Rights," Human Rights Watch (July 11, 2019 )
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/11/beware-trump-administrations-plans-fresh-thinking-human-rights (accessed Feb 17,2020)

Roth is executive director HRW

[15] Ibid