White Paper on Human Rights Situation in U.S. in 2016

 The DPRK Institute of International Studies Wednesday released a "white paper on human rights situation in the U.S. in 2016".

According to the white paper, the U.S. presidential election in 2016 was recorded as squandering the largest sum of money in history.

About USD 5 billion was consumed in the presidential election in 2008 and USD 6 billion in 2012, whereas in the last presidential election it amounted to USD 10 billion. Advertisement for the presidential candidates cost USD 4.4 billion, and the earnings by websites, radio stations and newspapers for political advertisement amounted to USD 1.2 billion, USD 916 million and USD 882 million, respectively.

The turnout for the last presidential and general elections was 60% and 30~40%, respectively.

Terming the U.S. a human rights desert where even elementary human rights are not provided, the white paper said:

In the U.S., in one week of December 2016, 275 000 persons joined the chronic contingent of the unemployed numbering 7.9 million; 18.8% of the total number of the unemployed was young people.

Last year the number of persons without shelter exceeded 560 000, and 322 000 persons in 17 northern counties in Florida are maintaining a bare existence with the help of "charitable organizations."  

According to the statistics made public by economists jointly in the end of 2016, the average annual income of the wealthy people accounting for 1% of the total population was 81 times that of those under the middle class, a considerable increase from 27 times 36 years ago.

Over the past 25 years, school expenses skyrocketed to 440%. About 6 million young people less than 24 years old do not think about going to school and 1.2 million high-school students give up further studies every year because of the exorbitant school expenses.

The situation of medical service in the U.S. is a graphic testimony to the system's anti-human nature.

It costs USD 500 to have a tooth pulled out, tens of thousands of dollars for appendectomy, USD 1 000 for a day in hospital for first aid, and USD 100 000~200 000 for an operation on the emergency case in the first-aid room.

The "health insurance" has become a legal tool for emptying the people's purses.

The Department of Justice made public that from the end of June 2016 management personnel of medical organs and doctors numbering 301 were prosecuted on suspicion of health insurance fraud.

Though women occupy 57% of the workforce, their salary is 81% of that of their male counterparts, and it is 69% and 58% for the Afro-American and Hispanic women.

About 6 million women fall victim to violent crimes every year.

A UPI dispatch disclosed that the cases of human trafficking in 2016 increased by 35.7% compared to the previous year.  

 Noting that 2016 was a blood-soaked year ridden with cases of gun-related crimes in the U.S., the white paper disclosed that more than 58 120 cases of gun violence took place nationwide, claiming 15 039 lives and injuring 30 589.

On the U.S. institutional discrimination aimed at obliterating other races, it said:

According to a report by the Expert Group on African Descendents of the UN Human Rights Council, 40.4% of the homeless in the U.S. are Afro-Americans and their unemployment rate is double that of the whites'. And as for the same offences, the imprisonment rate of black men is 5.9 times higher than that of white men and the rate of black women, 2.1 times higher than white women.

Most of the 256 people who fell victim to police shootings in the first three months of last year were black.

The above-mentioned violations of human rights in the U.S. are the tip of the iceberg, and they are by no means accidents that were witnessed in 2016 alone.

These criminal offenses, which run counter to human dignity and intelligence, are the inevitable outcome of the American-style "democracy" and the U.S. social system based on the law of the jungle and extreme individualism.

The U.S. is loud in its advocacy of "universal respect for human rights," publishing "annual reports" that deal with the human rights situations in other countries. However, it can never cover up nor negate its own human rights situation that has been the subject of international criticism and condemnation.