USA gets ‘D’ grade in human rights in 2024 RI University report

The report grades each of the world’s countries on a 100-point scale using what the university calls “the world’s largest quantitative human rights dataset,” known as the CIRIGHTS Data Project, an initiative the university launched with Binghamton University in New York two years ago. .

The project uses data compiled from the US State Department, Amnesty International and the United Nations, among other organizations. This year’s report is based on data collected for 2022.

“The CIRIGHTS project shows that global respect has declined over the last decade,” Mark said. “Things are getting worse despite growth in human rights law, institutions, NGOs, and technology for documenting and disseminating human rights information.”

Specifically, nations are scored in four categories: physical integrity, empowerment, workers’ rights, and justice rights. A total of two dozen factors are taken into account, among them political imprisonment and extrajudicial executions, religious freedom and women’s rights, the minimum wage and the right to unionize and a fair trial.

According to researchers, commitment to human rights is more common in democratic and rich countries, although there are exceptions.

Although the United States has “strong domestic laws protecting civil and political rights,” the researchers noted that the country “receives failing scores in rights categories such as physical integrity (such as extrajudicial killings, torture, and political imprisonment) and workers’ rights (such as freedom).” unionization and child labor rights),” according to a press release.

“The United States has not ratified many human rights treaties (it is the only country that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child), and excessive police brutality and police shootings that disproportionately target racial minorities are so bad that they have been criticized around the world. Mark said in his statement:

“Political incarceration of nonviolent protesters has increased in recent years, and laws restricting the right to protest undermine a key mechanism through which citizens can advocate for better rights,” Mark added. “Workers’ rights continue to be violated by increasing restrictions on unionization, restrictions on the right to strike, unaffordable minimum wages, an increase in child labor, and laws that weaken child labor protections.”

The United States is tied with Jamaica for 66th in the rankings.

“Students are often surprised at how the United States compares to the rest of the world, and that leads to really interesting discussions about what we can do better,” Mark said. “Human rights education is the first step in creating demand for human rights, which is necessary for the improvement of human rights.”

The first five countries in the ranking were Iceland, Estonia, Denmark, Finland and Monaco, while the last five countries were Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Yemen and South Sudan, respectively.

Generally speaking, “the distribution of human rights scores has remained largely stable over the past 17 years, suggesting that human rights have not significantly improved or decreased in recent times,” the researchers wrote in the report.

“This situation is worrying but not surprising for human rights defenders. “We have reason to worry in the 21st century, and these findings demonstrate an urgent need to strengthen human rights,” the researchers wrote. “Current tools used to advance human rights and hold leaders accountable are not working, and new approaches will be required to improve human rights globally.”

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Christopher Gavin can be reached at [email protected].