IT seems that Washington is determined to play the role of ‘world policeman', despite international criticism of its foreign policies. The US has failed in Iraq and Afghanistan, while it has also failed in terms of the Suspected Iranian nuclear programme and other issues. However, the US Administration claims to have achieved a great deal in these areas, exploiting the huge US media machine that always succeeds in distorting the facts and deceiving the American public. The recent annual report on human rights practices in 194 countries, compiled by the US State Department, reveals the size of the gap between world countries and the ‘blind' American policies. This report condemns the human rights practices in most countries. But those who made this report have forgotten all about the US human rights abuses in Guantanamo Bay, as well as the infamous campaign to arrest and imprison Muslims and Arabs in America in recent years, on the pretext of grave violations of human rights. Although the report refers to many countries around the world and their human rights abuses, it focuses in particular on countries such as China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Sudan and Colombia. I think the strong reactions towards the US report proves that the world has rejected it. Egypt, for one, has rejected the report, describing it as interference in its internal affairs. China dominates the report along with Russia. The report says that widespread abuses have occurred in China, especially with the suppression of minorities, particularly in Tibet. "China has rejected the annual report on human rights worldwide," said Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, arguing that the US is using it as a political tool. "Washington is acting as a self-proclaimed judge of the world," stressed Beijing in a counter- report, accusing Washington of covering up its human rights violations. The counter-report added that the United States "uses human rights as a political tool to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and tarnish their image, while pursuing its own strategic interests”. China has urged the US to stop interfering in the internal affairs of other countries via human rights issues. "The Chinese government attaches great importance to safeguarding and promoting human rights and China's Constitution and laws respect and recognise the human rights of the people," says Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang. "Since the adoption of the policy of reform and openness in China, the country has developed economically and culturally, steadily progressing in terms of democracy, with a legal system which guarantees freedom of religious practice, while all ethnic groups have ‘brought more and more freedom and rights'. "China has appealed to the American side to refrain from describing itself as a monitor of human rights in the world,” he adds, pointing out that China is willing to engage in dialogue with other countries onhuman rights issues on the basis of equality and mutual respect, in order to promote mutual understanding and reduce their differences. Qin stresses that China strongly opposes any intervention in its internal affairs by exploiting human rights. For their part, Chinese lawmakers and political advisers from Tibet and Xinjiang say that cultural and religious freedom are fully respected and protected by law in the two ethnic areas. "If you visit Tibet, you will find rooms full of holy books or shrines in the homes of nearly every pious family. You will also find banners inscribed with prayers or stones with sacred texts on almost everywhere," Padma Choling, the head of the government in Tibet Autonomous Region, told Xinhua during the annual session of the National People's Congress, held in Beijing. "The monasteries in Tibet have always been crowded with worshippers who rotate the prayer wheel or kneel in front of Buddha. More than a million visitors come annually to worship in Lhasa, the capital of the region." Padma said that, since the 1980s, the central government has provided 700 million yuan ($103 million) and a large quantity of gold and silver for the maintenance of the monasteries in Tibet, adding that there are currently more than 1,700 religious sites, and 46,000 monks and nuns whose beliefs are fully protected by law. Dawa Tashi, the Commissioner for Tibet's Ali Prefecture and a deputy in the National People's Congress, rejects the term ‘cultural repression' which was mentioned in the American report. Berkri Mahmoud, a member of the Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese People and Director of the Islamic Association of Shanshan County in Xinjiang, said Muslims could perform their religious rites normally and that they can freely attend prayers in mosques and fast in the holy month of Ramadan. "The government arranges for about 12,000 Muslims across the country every year to go to Mecca to perform the Hajj, including almost 5,000 from Xinjiang." Colombia has also rejected the US report, as the criticism of this Latin American country is based on false information. In the wake of the controversial report, a number of parliamentarians in Russia have rejected the American criticism of their country's human rights record, saying that the US government is trying to exert pressure on Russia. The US report dedicates 36 pages to talk Sudan. As usual, it talks about gross violations of human rights in the North and South alike, mentioning again the term genocide in reference to Darfur. The report talked also about the elections in the country, due to be held next month. Washington issues this report and others, such as the report on religious freedoms, despite the world's anger. It seems that Washington is determined that its foreign policies should fizzle out and earn more criticisms. The world is aware of how Washington favours Israel, overlooking its massacres of the Palestinians. Washington never monitors and records these practices which it regards as ‘self-defence'. Instead, it supports Israel's policies against the Palestinian people in defiance of international resolutions and public opinion. The US is not only the world's policeman but also the world's bully. [email protected] El-Sonoty is an Egyptian journalist.
