The US colluded with some Western countries to level criticism at several countries including Cuba, Syria, Venezuela and Iran calling their names at the 48th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council which was held recently in Geneva.

The problem is that the US, which picks on other countries of its dislike at annual meetings of the UN Human Rights Council, adopts an opposite attitude towards Israel, its ally.

Israel is already sitting in the dock for its crime against humanity. It mercilessly killed bare-handed peaceful civilians who had demanded their rights to self-determination and rights to existence in the occupied Arab territories including Palestine and Golan of Syria, and enforced the expansion of Jewish settlement. The US, however, shields Israel as it justifies the latter’s barbarous acts as the exercise of “legitimate right to self-defense” as well as “right to protecting citizens”. It even does not hesitate to cast no vote against the anti-Israel resolution which is approved by the absolute majority of the members of the Human Rights Council.

The US, among other things, opposed the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council in March 2006 with an excuse that it feared the issue of Israel would be handled with prejudice. It then openly took sides with Israel, saying that the practices of “treating Israel unfairly” should be corrected.

Israel, under the patronage of the US, is going defiant in its human rights violations, much to the consternation of the world. But it rather behaves impudently on its own part taking issue with human rights situation of other countries.

Moreover, the US is justifying its own human rights violations which were committed after the military occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries as “legitimate self-defense” and “protection of human rights”. It’s also imposing even sanctions against those people who demand an investigation into its own human rights violations.

In the meantime, it condemned just measures taken by other countries for safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity as “severe human rights violation” and “crime against humanity”. Not content with this, it is even clamouring that they should be called to account under the criminal law.

The US is indiscriminately clamping down on the peaceful demonstrators who rose against social contradiction and discrimination deep-rooted in its own land, just calling them as “rioters”. But it praises the forces causing riots against other governments as “democratic forces”.

Such examples are innumerable.

It is the reality of the international human rights arena that the American-style double standards hold sway where the US groundlessly picks on the human rights situation of other countries of its dislike, while justifying dire human rights violations in its own country and its allies.

In order to resolve the human rights issues honestly on the principle of impartiality and objectivity, the US’ double standard--the main stumbling block to it--should be eradicated.