Dossier on America

An accounting of American violations of international norms, common morality, and human decency.


Global Issues Institute
dk@earthweb.org

November 2002



In the spirit of the recent "Dossier on Iraq" published by the U.K. government, we hereby present a "Dossier on America".


Foreign Aid (development assistance)

U.S. gives 0.2% of GNP for foreign aid, the lowest amongst all donor countries.
Internationally agreed-upon target is 0.7%

17 million people, including 11 million children, die every year from easily preventable diseases and malnutrition. 
800 million people are hungry or malnourished.
2 billion people live in poverty (on $2 a day), and 1 billion living in absolute poverty (on $1 a day).
2 billion people lack access to proper sanitation, and 1 billion do not have safe drinking water.
275 million children never attend or complete primary school. 870 million adults are illiterate.
If the U.S., along with other rich donor countries, fulfilled their aid obligations, there would be enough to fund the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, a recently agreed upon set of U.N. targets aimed at addressing many of the above issues.
Estimated cost of achieving the Millennium Goals is $100-150 billion a year.
A mere 0.5% tax on America's (financial) millionaires, whose combined wealth equals $8 trillion, would be sufficient to allow America to fulfill its foreign aid obligation.

War on Iraq

Up to 500,000 people could die in a war with Iraq
A U.S.-led war against Iraq would be a pre-emptive, large-scale invasion, without evidence of an imminent threat to the security of the United States.
Source: recent report by Medact / International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize)

Iraq Sanctions and the Gulf War
Over 500,000 children (under the age of 5) have died from U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Iraq since the Gulf War
Up to 1.5 million people total have died from the sanctions
100,000-200,000 Iraqi soldiers and civilians died in the U.S.-led Gulf War.

"War on Terror"

War in Afghanistan
3000-5000 Afghan civilians were killed in the campaign against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime.

Guantanamo Bay prison
Prisoners were held without trial or the standard safeguards of "prisoner of war" status, violating international standards for the treatment of prisoners.

Civil rights and liberties in America
The rights of Americans are being diminished, restricted, and violated, through mechanisms such as the Patriot Act.
Over 1,000 detentions and deportations of mostly Arab men in America without any terrorism charges. Maltreatment and violations of rights (including proper access to attorneys, contact with families, etc.) during detention were reported in many cases.

Other
Fingerprinting and photographing of visitors from certain Arab countries.
Support for a policy of covert assassinations/killings of suspected terrorists abroad.

 

International Treaties, Conventions, and Conferences
America's stance on many international treaties places it in the company of some of the world's most vile regimes and worst human rights violators.

World Summit on Sustainable Development 
U.N. sponsored international conference aimed at addressing some of the biggest issues pertaining to the environment, poverty, and economic development.
Summit ended almost in failure, with very few concrete commitments and timetables. 
The U.S. was "the single biggest obstacle toward achieving progress", refusing to agree to any substantive commitments and goals.

International Criminal Court 
An historic achievement in human rights, the court's aim is to bring to justice perpetrators of crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. The court aims to prevent a repeat of some of the greatest crimes and atrocities committed in the 20th century including the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, and the Rwanda genocide.
U.S. took unprecedented steps to undermine the new court, including planning to "unsign" the ICC treaty and pressuring other countries to sign bilateral immunity agreements.

Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming
The treaty is the primary international instrument aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent global warming. Global warming is expected to increase the Earth's temperature by 3C (5.4F) in the next 100 years, resulting in multiple adverse effects on the environment and human society, including widespread species loss, ecosystem damage, and flooding of populated human settlements.
The U.S. is the largest greenhouse gas producer in the world. 
The U.S. is the only main country not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)
The main international treaty designed to protect the rights of women worldwide, and ending the exploitation of and discrimination against women.
The only countries that have signed but not ratified are the US, Afghanistan, Sao Tome and Principe. 

U.N. Torture Treaty protocol
Attempting to block the new treaty after 10 years of efforts by the international community to implement and enforce the treaty ratified by most countries, including the U.S.

Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty
U.S. officially withdrew from the landmark arms treaty, December 2001.

Landmine Ban Treaty 
Landmines maim or kill approximately 26,000 civilians every year, including 8,000 to 10,000 children.
U.S. refused to sign the treaty, along with Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Egypt, and Turkey. December 1997

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
U.S. failed to ratify the ban on nuclear testing, and continues to show opposition.
The treaty is ratified by 89 countries including France, Great Britain, and Russia.

Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention Treaty
Killed a 1994 protocol designed to strengthen the Convention by providing for on-site inspections

CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
U.S. announced support for the renewal of ivory trade, November 2002.

Convention on the Rights of the Child
Only two countries in the world have refused to ratify this human rights treaty -- Somalia and the U.S.

Child Soldiers Protocol
There are 300,000 child soldiers today. 
The U.S. has yet to ratify the treaty.

UN Agreement to Curb the International Flow of Illicit Small Arms, July 2001
Small arms and light weapons are responsible for the vast majority of casualties in modern day conflicts, of which 3 out of 4 casualties are civilians.
The US was the only nation to oppose it.

Durban Conference Against Racism
U.S. withdrew from the international conference aimed at combating racism around the world.

 

Other

Global AIDS Crisis
3 million people die of AIDS every year. 70 million people will die of AIDS by the year 2020.
The U.S. gives much less than its fair share (in relation to America's wealth) to the Global AIDS Fund, the primary international body established to fund global AIDS prevention, treatment and care projects around the world. The Global Fund is calling for $10 billion a year from donor countries.
The U.S. is also trying to block the manufacturing of inexpensive generic medicines which are readily available in the developed countries, but that are far too expensive for most of the world's AIDS patients. These drugs can dramatically increase the quality of life and life expectancy of AIDS patients.

U.S. financial obligations to the United Nations
U.S. is starting to slowly repay its massive debt of $1 billion.

United Nations Population Fund 
November 2002, U.S. threatens to withdraw its support for a landmark family planning agreement that the United States helped write 8 years ago.
July 2002, U.S. withheld previously approved aid of $34 million to UNFPA

Embargo against Cuba in violation of repeated U.N. General Assembly resolutions
U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution in November 2002, for the 11th consecutive year, calling for an end to the U.S. embargo.
The resolution passed 173-3, with the U.S., Israel and the Marshall Islands opposing.
The Cuban government estimates the negative effect of the blockade at more than $67 billion. 

One-sided support for Israel in the conflict with Palestinians
Israel is in violation of several U.N. resolutions.

US Nuclear Posture Review
The principle of deterrence has guided international security policy since the Cold War.
The U.S. is now rejecting the policy of deterrence in favor of using nuclear weapons as instruments that could be used in fighting wars.

National Security Strategy 2002
The U.S. stated its aim of global military domination.
Incorporates first-strike, pre-emptive war.
Calls for development of new low-yield, earth-penetrating nuclear weapons

Nuclear arsenal
10,000-20,000 nuclear warheads remain in the U.S. arsenal.
U.S. the only country to have used a nuclear weapon.

Military spending
U.S. has the largest military spending budget in the world.

Arms trade
America is the largest supplier of the arms trade, and provider of weapons to other countries
The arms trade is a major contributing factor to armed conflicts around the world.

Missile Defense
The U.S. is planning an expensive missile defense system that threatens to destabilize global security.

America's wealth compared to world's poor
Average income in America is over 100 times greater than that of the poorest 1 billion people on the planet.

Domestic prison population
Prison population of 2 million is the highest incarceration rate in the world.

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About Global Issues Institute:
Global Issues Institute is a research and policy center focusing on issues of peace, human rights, environment, and development, from a progressive political perspective, based in the United States in Seattle, WA. It aims to promote and increase activism on the full range of global issues.

Contact:  dk@earthweb.org