UN grills US on human rights record

The United Nations has grilled Washington for failing to meet its international civil rights obligations, urging the US for transparency in its spying programs and drone strikes.

The UN report said that the United States has failed on a series of human rights issues including lack of transparency in its electronic surveillance programs, torture, targeted drone killings, secret detentions, and closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison.

The report delivered by the UN’s human rights committee assessed how the country is following the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR].

The UN Human Rights Committee, chaired by the British law professor Sir Nigel Rodley, is composed of 18 independent experts from different countries.

The committee strongly denounced the data collection of citizens and officials under the PRISM program and its negative effect on privacy.

Other major concerns addressed by the panel include prolonged solitary confinement of prisoners, sentencing of life without parole and racial disparities in the use of the death penalty.

The report comes as Washington accuses other countries of human rights violations.

In its 11-page report, the committee also criticized the Obama administration for failing to prosecute senior members of its armed forces and private contractors involved in torture and target killings.

The US is urged to “ensure that all cases of unlawful killing, torture or other ill-treatment, unlawful detention, or enforced disappearance are effectively, independently and impartially investigated, that perpetrators, including, in particular, persons in command positions, are prosecuted and sanctioned.”

Continued use of death penalty in 16 US states and high population of black people in the country’s jails were among other problems the panel was concerned about.